chno شنو
Moroccan Darija · pronoun
“chno” (شنو) is a pronoun in Moroccan Darija meaning what.
Meanings
- what
- which, what kind of
- what?
Usage
Chno is the basic interrogative pronoun for asking "what". It goes at the start of the question: chno bghiti? (what do you want?). Followed by lli, it gives "what (is the thing that)": chno lli w9e3? It combines with pronouns: chno howa, chno hiya, to ask what something is. There is the very widespread variant achno, and depending on the region ach is also heard. Used alone, chno? is like a bare "what?" and can sound curt. The word is neutral and is used in all registers of spoken language.
Example
شنو وقع ليك؟
chno w9e3 lik?
“What happened to you?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “chno” but also “chnou”, “achno”, “shno”, “xno” and “achnou”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Its Arabic spelling is not fixed either: you will find شنو and اشنو, all the same word.
Type “chno” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
The same word also exists in Tunisian Derja, written شنوا, where it means “what”; “which, what (before a noun)”: chnowa in Tunisian.