btida2i ابتدائي
Moroccan Darija · adjective
“btida2i” (ابتدائي) is an adjective in Moroccan Darija meaning primary (education).
Meanings
- primary (education)
- primary school, primary level
Usage
"Btida2i" describes the first cycle of schooling. It is used mostly with the article, "lbtida2i", to mean primary school, or in "lmadrasa lbtida2iya", the primary school. It contrasts with "l2i3dadi" (middle school) and "ttanawi" (high school). The word comes from Standard Arabic, but it is fully current in everyday life, especially when talking about children's schooling. The medial hamza is often written "2" in arabizi. The feminine "btida2iya" agrees with "madrasa".
Example
ولدي كيقرا فالابتدائي
wldi kayqra f lbtida2i
“My son is in primary school.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “btida2i” but also “ibtida2i” and “ibtidai”. 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 “btida2i” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “primary (education, school)”; “primary-school level”: ibtida2i in Tunisian.