b7al بحال
Moroccan Darija · preposition
“b7al” (بحال) is a preposition in Moroccan Darija meaning like, similar to.
Meanings
- like, similar to
- the same, identical (b7al b7al)
- about, roughly
Usage
B7al is one of the most frequent words in darija. It is used for comparison: nta b7al khoya, "you are like my brother". With a pronoun suffix you get b7ali, b7alek ("like me", "like you"). Doubled, b7al b7al means "the same, the same thing"; machi b7al b7al means "it's not the same". B7al hakka and b7al hakak mean "like this/like that". Before a number or a length of time, it marks approximation: b7al chi sa3a, "about an hour". The variant b7ala often introduces "as if". The word is used in all registers.
Example
نتا بحال خويا
nta b7al khoya
“You're like my brother.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “b7al” but also “bhal” and “b7ala”. 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.
Type “b7al” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “like, similar to”; “the same as, similar”: bhal in Algerian.