ch8er khamsa شهر خمسة
Moroccan Darija · noun
“ch8er khamsa” (شهر خمسة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning May (fifth month).
Meanings
- May (fifth month)
Usage
Chher khamsa literally means "month five". In Morocco, months are very often referred to by their number, especially in everyday conversation and for administrative dates. One also hears "mayo" or "mai", borrowed from Spanish or French, depending on the region and the speaker. The construction is fixed: chher followed by the number, without an article. To give dates, one says for example "f chher khamsa" (in May) or "jouj f chher khamsa" (the second of May). Pitfall: do not confuse it with "khamsa chhor", which means "five months", a duration.
Example
غادي نسافر ف شهر خمسة
ghadi nsafer f chher khamsa
“I'm going to travel in May.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ch8er khamsa” but also “ch8er khmsa”, “ch8er khemsa”, “ch8ar khmsa” and “ch8r khmsa”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 8 is light ha (ه) or ghayn (غ), depending on the writer.