sayi صاي
Algerian Darja · interjection
“sayi” (صاي) is an interjection in Algerian Darja meaning that's it, it's done.
Meanings
- that's it, it's done
- it's over, finished
- and that's that
Usage
Adapted loan from French "ça y est", very common in speech and in online writing. It is used to announce that something has been completed ("sayi kmelt", that's it, I'm done), that a situation is definitively over, or to cut a discussion short. At the end of a question, "wella sayi ?" means "or is that all?", "or is it over?". The register is informal. In arabizi it is also found as "9ai", where the 9 marks the emphatic sound. It often equals "khlaṣ".
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “sayi” but also “sai”, “9ai”, “saye” and “sayé”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.