hell حل
Algerian Darja · verb
“hell” (حل) is a verb in Algerian Darja meaning to open.
Meanings
- to open
- to solve, to settle
- solution (noun)
Usage
In darja, hell is the common verb for "to open": hell el bab (open the door), hell 3inik (open your eyes). Its opposite is sedd or ghleq (to close). The usual forms are hellit (I opened), nhell (I open) and the passive thall (to open, to be opened). The same verb also means "to solve": hell el mochkil. As a noun, hal means "solution": ma kan hal (there is no solution), lqit hal (I found a solution). Someone who only knows the standard sense "to solve" risks misunderstanding hell el bab.
Example
حل الباب راني جيت
hell el bab, rani jit
“Open the door, I've arrived.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “hell” but also “hel”, “7el”, “hal” and “7al”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 7 is ha (ح), a breathy h from the throat.
Type “hell” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “to open”; “to solve, untie”: 7ell in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “to open”; “to solve (a problem)”: 7all in Tunisian.