yest7a9 يستحق
Algerian Darja · verb
“yest7a9” (يستحق) is a verb in Algerian Darja meaning to need.
Meanings
- to need
- to require, to take
- to deserve (formal register)
Usage
In darja, yest7a9 means above all "to need": wach test7a9?, "what do you need?", nest7a9 drahem, "I need money". It is also used impersonally in the sense of "to require": hadi test7a9 el khedma, "this takes work". The pitfall is the Standard Arabic meaning "to deserve". It is also found, especially in writing and in comments (yest7a9 eddaam, "he deserves to be supported"), but it belongs to a more formal register. In everyday conversation, the meaning "to need" clearly dominates. It is constructed directly, without a preposition, or with li- for the beneficiary.
Example
يستحق الدراهم باش يشري طوموبيل
yest7a9 drahem bach ychri tomobil
“He needs money to buy a car.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “yest7a9” but also “yesta7a9”, “yesthak”, “yest7aq” and “yestha9”. 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; 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.