badil بديل
Moroccan Darija · noun
“badil” (بديل) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning alternative, other option.
Meanings
- alternative, other option
- replacement, substitute
Usage
Badil comes from Standard Arabic, but it has entered current darija, especially in discussions about work, politics or consumption. You say l-badil ("the alternative") and ma kaynch badil ("there is no other solution"). In very casual speech, people often prefer chi 7aja khra ("something else") or chi 7el akhor ("another solution"). Common pitfall: in arabizi, the spelling bdel or bedel very often corresponds to the verb bddel ("change!") and not to this noun. Only context lets you tell them apart.
Example
ما عندناش بديل، خصنا نخدمو بهاد الطوموبيل
ma 3ndnach badil, khssna nkhdmo b had tomobil
“We have no alternative, we have to make do with this car.”
Forms
| feminine | badila |
|---|---|
| plural | bada2il |
| feminine plural | badilat |
Forms as recorded in DODa, in its spelling.
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “badil” but also “badiil”, “badile”, “bdil”, “bdel” and “bedel”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “badil” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “substitute, replacement”; “alternative”: badil in Tunisian.