alfin ألفين
Moroccan Darija · numeral
“alfin” (ألفين) is a numeral in Moroccan Darija meaning two thousand.
Meanings
- two thousand
Usage
Alfin is the dual of alf and means "two thousand". You don't say "juj alf": you use alfin directly, followed by the noun in the singular, as in alfin derham, "two thousand dirhams". For money, you need to specify the unit, since many people count in ryal: alfin ryal is a much smaller sum. Be careful not to confuse alfin with lfin, "(to) where". The two forms can be written similarly in arabizi.
Example
خلصت ألفين درهم على هاد التيليفون
khelest alfin derham 3la had tilifoun
“I paid two thousand dirhams for this phone.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “alfin” but also “alfine”, “2alfin”, “alfayn” and “alfeen”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 2 is hamza (ء), a glottal stop.
Type “alfin” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “two thousand”; “two thousand (in years)”: alfin in Algerian.