ch7al شحال
Moroccan Darija · adverb
“ch7al” (شحال) is an adverb in Moroccan Darija meaning how much, how many.
Meanings
- how much, how many
- how long
- how (exclamation)
Usage
Ch7al is the interrogative for quantity and price, one of the most useful words in daily life. To ask a price, you say ch7al hadi? ("how much is this?"), and for an age, ch7al f 3omrek? ("how old are you?"). For a quantity, it is often followed by men: ch7al men wa7ed? ("how many people?"). It is also used for duration: ch7al baqi? ("how much time is left?"). Preceded by wa, it becomes exclamatory: wa ch7al zwin! ("how beautiful it is!"). The 7 stands for a strong h, not to be pronounced like a silent h.
Example
شحال في عمرك؟
ch7al f 3omrek?
“How old are you?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ch7al” but also “che7al”, “sh7al”, “chehal” and “shhal”. 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 “ch7al” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “how much, how many”; “how (much)! (exclamative)”: ch7al in Algerian.