7dach حضاش
Moroccan Darija · numeral
“7dach” (حضاش) is a numeral in Moroccan Darija meaning eleven.
Meanings
- eleven
- eleven o'clock
Usage
7Dach is the number eleven in darija. Used alone, for counting or telling the time, it keeps this form: l-7Dach ("eleven o'clock"). Before a noun it takes the bound form 7Dach-el, followed by the noun in the singular: 7Dachel 3am ("eleven years"), 7Dachel dirham. This is the main pitfall for an English speaker: no plural is used after the numbers eleven to nineteen. The month of November is often called chhar 7Dach, "the month eleven". The word is common in all spoken registers.
Example
ولدي عندو حضاشل عام
wldi 3ndo 7Dachel 3am
“My son is eleven years old.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “7dach” but also “hdach”, “hdache”, “7dache”, “7dash” and “hdash”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Its Arabic spelling is not fixed either: you will find حضاش and حداش, all the same word.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 7 is ha (ح), a breathy h from the throat.
Type “7dach” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
The same word also exists in Tunisian Derja, written حداش, where it means “eleven”: 7dech in Tunisian.