ta9a تاقة
Algerian Darja · noun
“ta9a” (تاقة) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning window.
Meanings
- window
- small opening, skylight
- small opening in a wall
Usage
Ta9a is the traditional word for "window". It is also written taqa, and in some regions it is pronounced taga, with a g. It is seen as a word of older speakers and of the home. Today many speakers, especially in cities and among young people, say fenêtre instead, borrowed from French, or nafida, from Standard Arabic. For example: "hell et-ta9a" ("open the window") or "sedd et-ta9a" ("close the window"). The word can also refer to a small opening or a niche in a wall.
Example
حل التاقة باش يدخل الهوا
hell et-ta9a bach yedkhol el hwa
“Open the window so the air comes in.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ta9a” but also “taqa”, “taga”, “taka” and “tâqa”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Its Arabic spelling is not fixed either: you will find تاقة and التاقة, all the same word.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.
Type “ta9a” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “window”; “small opening in a wall”: ta9a in Moroccan.