khams خمس
Algerian Darja · numeral
“khams” (خمس) is a numeral in Algerian Darja meaning five.
Meanings
- five
Usage
Khams is the form of the number "five" used directly before a plural noun: "khams snin" (five years), "khams alaf" (five thousand). When the number is used alone, for example when counting or answering a question, one says khamsa instead. The pitfall for an English speaker is using khamsa before the noun. Before a noun beginning with a vowel, you sometimes hear khamst. The number 5 also has a protective value in popular culture. It appears in the phrase "khamsa fi 3inik", said to ward off the evil eye.
Example
قعدت خمس سنين في فرانسا
q3adt khams snin f fransa
“I spent five years in France.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “khams” but also “khamsa”, “5ams” and “khmsa”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 5 is kha (خ), like the ch in Scottish loch.
Type “khams” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “five (before a noun)”; “fifth, one fifth”: khams in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “five (before a noun)”; “one fifth”: khmes in Tunisian.