sahra صحرا
Algerian Darja · noun
“sahra” (صحرا) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning desert.
Meanings
- desert
- the Algerian South, the Sahara
- very hot or remote place
Usage
Sahra refers to the desert in general, but in Algeria the word very often means the South of the country: rah l'sahra means "he went to the South". Someone from there is called ould sahra or sahraoui. Jokingly, a city in the North can be called sahra to say that it is very hot there or that it is remote. The final form in -a, without hamza, is the common pronunciation, closer to speech than to the standard sahra'. The word is feminine, and with the article it becomes ç-çahra or l'sahra depending on the speaker.
Example
خويا راه يخدم في الصحرا، يجي كل شهر.
khouya rah yekhdem fi sahra, yji koul chhar.
“My brother works in the Sahara, he comes home every month.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “sahra” but also “s7ra”, “sa7ra”, “sahraa” and “s7ara”. 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 “sahra” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “desert”; “the Sahara, the South”: s7ra in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “desert”; “empty, deserted place (figurative)”: sahra in Tunisian.