sarf الصرف
Algerian Darja · noun
“sarf” (الصرف) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning small change, coins.
Meanings
- small change, coins
- cash
- currency exchange
Usage
Sarf first means small change: the coins and small notes needed to pay a shopkeeper or a bus fare. People ask: 3andek sarf? ("do you have change?"). More broadly, the word can refer to cash, as opposed to card payments. In the expression sarf l'euro or the phrase marché du sarf, it refers to currency exchange, especially on the parallel market. In an administrative register, sarf sehhi means "sanitation" and has nothing to do with money.
Example
ماعنديش الصرف، عندي غير ألف دينار.
ma3andich sarf, 3andi ghir alf dinar.
“I don't have any change, I only have a thousand-dinar note.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “sarf” but also “essarf”, “lsarf”, “serf” and “srf”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.