mat مات
Algerian Darja · verb
“mat” (مات) is a verb in Algerian Darja meaning to die, pass away.
Meanings
- to die, pass away
- (hyperbole) to be dying (of laughter, hunger)
Usage
Mat (imperfect ymout, imperative mout) is the ordinary verb for "to die". The announcement of a death is almost always followed by Allah yerhmou or Allah yerhamha, "may God have mercy on his/her soul". In a more delicate register, twaffa is preferred instead. As in English, the verb is often used to exaggerate: mout bedhak, "to die of laughter", or rani mayet bel jou3, "I'm dying of hunger". The participle mayet means "dead" or "exhausted". The corresponding noun, mout, means death.
Example
مات جدّو العام لي فات
mat jeddou l3am li fat
“His grandfather died last year.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “mat” but also “met”, “maat” and “mét”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “mat” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “to die, pass away”; “to die of (laughter, hunger…)”: mat in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “to die, pass away”; “to die out, fade (figurative)”: mat in Tunisian.