9sem قسم
Moroccan Darija · verb
“9sem” (قسم) is a verb in Moroccan Darija meaning to share, divide.
Meanings
- to share, divide
- five-minute unit (telling time)
- section, department, class
Usage
As a verb, qsem means to share or divide, for example food, money or an inheritance. It takes bin ("between") or mɛa ("with"). As a noun, qsem, plural qsam, is used for telling time: it means a five-minute unit. So w sbeɛ qsam means "and thirty-five", that is seven times five minutes. In the sense of "section" or "department", in administration or at school, the word comes from the written language and is rather pronounced qism.
Example
قسم الخبزة بيناتكم
9sem lkhobza binatkom
“Share the bread among yourselves.”
Conjugation
Forms as recorded in DODa and reproduced in its spelling, which often leaves out short vowels.
| Imperfective (present) | Perfective (past) | Imperative | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ana (I) | kan9sm | 9smt | |
| nta (you, m.) | kat9sm | 9smti | 9sm |
| nti (you, f.) | kat9smi | 9smti | 9smi |
| howa (he) | kay9sm | 9sm | |
| hiya (she) | kat9sm | 9smat | |
| 7na (we) | kan9smo | 9smna | |
| ntouma (you, pl.) | kat9smo | 9smto | 9smo |
| homa (they) | kay9smo | 9smo |
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “9sem” but also “9sm”, “qsem”, “9sam”, “qism” and “9ism”. 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 “9sem” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “to share, divide, distribute”; “oath (qsem billah, I swear)”: qsem in Algerian.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “to share, divide”; “to distribute among several”: 9assem in Tunisian.