tarte9 طرطق

Algerian Darja · verb

“tarte9” (طرطق) is a verb in Algerian Darja meaning to explode, burst.

Meanings

1. to explode, burst
2. to blow up, make burst
3. to blow up, lose it

Usage

Tarte9 means to explode or burst with a sharp noise. It applies to a gas cylinder, a tyre, a firecracker or a balloon. It is intransitive ("el 3ajla tarte9et", the tyre burst) but also transitive ("tarte9 el baloun", he burst the balloon). Figuratively, it expresses overload or anger: "rassi tarte9" means "my head is about to explode." In youth slang, it also means to smash everything, to make a splash. The variants tarta9 and terteq are also found.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “tarte9” but also “tartag”, “tartaq”, “terteq” and “tarta9”. 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.

Type “tarte9” on the Arabic keyboard

In Moroccan Darija

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “to pop, to burst”; “to burst, to explode (ttertе9)”: terte9 in Moroccan.