chjer شجر
Moroccan Darija · noun
“chjer” (شجر) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning trees (collective).
Meanings
- trees (collective)
- vegetation, woodland greenery
Usage
Chjer is a collective noun: it refers to trees in general or a group of trees, without counting individual units. To talk about a single tree, use the singulative chejra. It is often used with the article (ech-chjer) or in constructions like bezzaf dial chjer ("many trees") and lwra9 dial chjer ("the leaves of the trees"). It readily takes masculine singular agreement, which may surprise an English speaker expecting a plural. To count a few trees, use the plural of chejra, for example tlata dial chejrat. The word is common, neutral, and used in the countryside and in town alike.
Example
شجر كينقي لينا الهواء
chjr kin9i lina lhawa
“Trees purify the air for us.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “chjer” but also “chjr”, “chjar” and “shjer”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “chjer” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “trees (collective noun)”; “tree cover, greenery”: chjar in Tunisian.