golt قلت
Algerian Darja · verb
“golt” (قلت) is a verb in Algerian Darja meaning I said.
Meanings
- I said
- you said
Usage
Conjugated form of gal / qal (to say), in the past tense. Depending on context, golt means "I said" or "you said": the ending is the same for both persons. It is used in all situations, in speech and in online writing. With an attached pronoun you get goltlek (I told you) or goltlou (I told him). Depending on the region, the q is pronounced as a g (golt) or as a q (qolt). In the Sétif region, a similar spelling also refers to a small puddle of rainwater, but that use is local.
Example
قلتلك ما تجيش اليوم
goltlek ma tjich lyoum
“I told you not to come today.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “golt” but also “qolt”, “9olt”, “gult”, “galt” and “galata”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.
Type “golt” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “I said / you said”; “I told myself, I thought”: gelt in Moroccan.