mouhawla محاولة
Algerian Darja · noun
“mouhawla” (محاولة) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning attempt, try.
Meanings
- attempt, try
- chance (sport)
Usage
Mouhawla means an attempt, a try. The word comes from Standard Arabic but is very common in Algeria, notably for judging a piece of work (mouhawla mlihha, "a good attempt") or criticising a failure (mouhawla fachla, "a failed attempt"). In football, it refers to a chance, an attempted shot. The plural is mouhawalat. For the verb, darja often prefers jarreb, "to try", to hawel, which is a bit more formal. It is also heard in the media for attempted fraud, escape or suicide. Its register is neutral.
Example
كانت محاولة مليحة بصح ما دخلتش.
kanet mouhawla mlih bessah ma dekhletch.
“It was a good attempt, but it didn't go in.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “mouhawla” but also “mohawla”, “muhawla”, “mo7awla” and “mouhawala”. 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 “mouhawla” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “attempt, try”; “effort to obtain something”: m7awla in Tunisian.