paskou پاسكو
Algerian Darja · conjunction
“paskou” (پاسكو) is a conjunction in Algerian Darja meaning because.
Meanings
- because
- since, given that
Usage
Paskou comes from French "parce que", pronounced in a reduced form. It is a fully integrated borrowing in darja: it is used in the middle of a sentence entirely in Algerian Arabic to introduce a cause, like 3la khater or 3la jal, its Arabic-origin equivalents. It is very common in speech and in online writing, among young people and adults alike, in a colloquial register. It goes at the start of the causal clause, often after a statement: "I'm not coming, paskou…". In more careful speech, some speakers prefer 3la khater.
Example
ما جيتش البارح پاسكو كنت مريض
ma jitch lbare7 paskou kount mrid
“I didn't come yesterday because I was sick.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “paskou” but also “pasku”, “pask”, “paske” and “pasqu”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.