rab3a ربعة
Algerian Darja · numeral
“rab3a” (ربعة) is a numeral in Algerian Darja meaning four.
Meanings
- four
Usage
Rab3a is the usual form of the number "four" in darja. It is used on its own ("kanou rab3a", "there were four of them"), for telling the time ("ar-rab3a", "four o'clock"), and before counted nouns. Before certain plurals, especially units of time and measurement, the short form rab3 or rbe3 is often heard: "rab3 snin" ("four years"), "rab3 iyyam" ("four days"). For hundreds, people say "rab3a mya", often pronounced "rab3 mya". Standard Arabic arba3a is understood, but it sounds more formal.
Example
جينا ربعة برك
jina rab3a brk
“There were only four of us who came.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “rab3a” but also “reb3a”, “arb3a”, “rba3a” and “rabaa”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 3 is ayn (ع), a voiced sound from deep in the throat with no English equivalent.
Type “rab3a” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “four”: rb3a in Moroccan.