kamiya كمية
Algerian Darja · noun
“kamiya” (كمية) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning quantity, amount.
Meanings
- quantity, amount
- so much (exclamatory)
Usage
Kammiya refers to a measurable quantity: kammiya ta3 l-ma (the quantity of water), kammiya kbira (a large quantity). The word comes from standard Arabic but is commonly used in darja, in speech and in writing. Online, it often appears in admiring phrases: kammiya ta3 l-m3loumat (so much information!), with the meaning "so much". In this use, it also describes abstract things such as energy or culture. It is built with ta3 or directly followed by the noun. At the market, qadeh (how much) or chhal is often preferred to ask for a precise quantity.
Example
الكمية لي شريت ما تكفيش للعشا
l-kammiya li chrit ma tkfich l l-3cha
“The quantity I bought isn't enough for dinner.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “kamiya” but also “kammiya”, “kamia”, “kemiya” and “kmiya”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “kamiya” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “quantity”; “amount, sum”: kimmiya in Moroccan.