hdiya هدية
Algerian Darja · noun
“hdiya” (هدية) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning gift, present.
Meanings
- gift, present
- donation, item given free
Usage
Hdiya is the usual word for "gift", from family conversation to formal occasions (wedding, Eid, birth, return from a trip). You say "jabli hdiya" (he brought me a gift) or "3titou hdiya" (I gave it to him as a gift). Placed after an object, "hdiya" means "as a gift, for free": "3tihouli hdiya", "give it to me as a gift". The most commonly heard plural is "hdaya". The word also refers to the presents exchanged between families at an engagement. It is not used in the ironic figurative sense of "it's no gift".
Example
خويا جابلي هدية من فرانسا
khouya jabli hdiya men França
“My brother brought me a gift from França.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “hdiya” but also “hdia”, “hdya”, “hadiya” and “hedia”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “hdiya” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “gift, present”; “calm, quiet (feminine)”: hdiya in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “gift, present”: hdia in Tunisian.