btata بطاطا
Moroccan Darija · noun
“btata” (بطاطا) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning potato(es).
Meanings
- potato(es)
Usage
Btata is the usual word for potato. It is a collective noun: it refers to the vegetable in general or to a quantity, as in "chri chi btata", "buy some potatoes". It is found in many everyday dishes: tajine, fries, salads, mash. To peel, one says "n9cher" or "n9i btata". Both t's are emphatic, which some write as "bTaTa". This word does not mean sweet potato, which is "btata 7lowa".
Example
نقدر نقشّر بطاطا.
n9der n9echcher bTaTa.
“I can peel the potatoes.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “btata” but also “batata”, “btatta” and “bata6a”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 6 is emphatic ta (ط).
Type “btata” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “potato”: batata in Algerian.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “potato”; “fries (in context)”: batata in Tunisian.