jma3a جماعة
Algerian Darja · noun
“jma3a” (جماعة) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning group, band of people.
Meanings
- group, band of people
- (vocative) guys, everyone
Usage
Jma3a refers to a gathering of people: a group of friends, an assembly, one's circle. In practice, it is heard mostly as a vocative to address several people at once, like "guys" or "everyone". This use is common in speech and in online comments: jma3a, 3awnouni, "help me, everyone". It is informal but not vulgar, and is suitable for a mixed audience. With the article, ldjma3a can also refer to the collective, the community.
Example
جماعة، واش راكم؟
jma3a, wach rakoum?
“Hi everyone, how are you?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “jma3a” but also “djma3a”, “jmaa”, “jamaa” and “jema3a”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 3 is ayn (ع), a voiced sound from deep in the throat with no English equivalent.
Type “jma3a” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “group, band of people”; “municipality (local authority)”: jma3a in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “group, gang”; “friends, guys (address)”: jma3a in Tunisian.