chi 7ed شي حدّ
Moroccan Darija · pronoun
“chi 7ed” (شي حدّ) is a pronoun in Moroccan Darija meaning someone.
Meanings
- someone
- anyone (in questions)
Usage
Chi 7edd means "someone". It is formed from the indefinite chi ("a, some") and 7edd ("person, individual"). It is very common in questions: wach kayn chi 7edd? ("is anyone there?"). Pitfall: to say "nobody" in the negative, drop chi and say ma… 7edd, for example ma ja 7edd ("nobody came"). Chi 7edd is used in all registers. It takes the masculine singular, even when the person's sex is unknown.
Example
واش جا شي حدّ ملي كنت برّا؟
wach ja chi 7edd melli kont barra?
“Did someone come while I was outside?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “chi 7ed” but also “chi 7edd” and “chi had”. 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.