mahal محل
Algerian Darja · noun
“mahal” (محل) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning shop, store.
Meanings
- shop, store
- commercial premises
- place, spot
Usage
Mahal means a commercial premises, a shop or a store: mahal ta3 lebsa, "clothes shop". For the small neighbourhood grocery, people usually say hanout. Mahal suggests a more specialised business, or premises that one rents or buys, as in kra mahal, "to rent a unit". The plural is mahallat. In school or standard usage, the word keeps the meaning "place", notably in grammar (fi mahal, "in the position of"). This sense is rare in conversation. The pronunciation is often mahal, written ma7al online.
Example
حلّ محل تاع لبسة فوسط البلاد
7all ma7al ta3 lebsa f west lblad
“He opened a clothes shop in the town centre.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “mahal” but also “ma7al”, “mahel”, “ma7el” and “mahall”. 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 “mahal” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “shop, store”; “commercial premises”: ma7al in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “shop, store”; “premises, place”: ma7al in Tunisian.