a9all 7aja أقلّ حاجة

Moroccan Darija · expression

“a9all 7aja” (أقلّ حاجة) is an expression in Moroccan Darija meaning the slightest thing.

Meanings

1. the slightest thing
2. the minimum, the least

Usage

A9all 7aja literally means "the smallest thing". After the preposition 3la, it expresses excessive sensitivity: kayt9ele9 3la a9all 7aja ("he gets upset over nothing"). In hadi a9all 7aja, it means "it's the least I can do", a common modest formula when someone thanks you for a favor. The variant a9all chi 7aja is also found. The sense of "minimum" in a numerical sense is more often expressed by l-7add l-adna or simply by a9all, without 7aja.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “a9all 7aja” but also “a9al 7aja”, “a9all haja” and “aqal haja”. 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.

Type “a9all 7aja” on the Arabic keyboard

In Tunisian Derja

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “at least, at a minimum”; “the least one can do”: a9al 7aja in Tunisian.