de9 دقّ
Moroccan Darija · verb
“de9” (دقّ) is a verb in Moroccan Darija meaning to knock (on a door), to bang.
Meanings
- to knock (on a door), to bang
- to pound, crush, drive in
- to beat, to hit
Usage
The verb de99 means to knock or bang, especially on a door: de99 l-bab, or de99 3la someone, "to knock at someone's door". It also means to pound in a mortar (de99 t-touma, to pound garlic) and to drive in a nail. The expression kla d-de99, literally "he ate blows", means that he got a beating or, figuratively, that he suffered a lot. Do not confuse it with the noun d99a, "minute, moment", or with the adjective d9i9, "thin, fine". The verbal noun is d-de99.
Example
سير دق على جيران
sir de9 3la jiran
“Go knock at the neighbors' door.”
Conjugation
Forms as recorded in DODa and reproduced in its spelling, which often leaves out short vowels.
| Imperfective (present) | Perfective (past) | Imperative | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ana (I) | kando99 | do99it | |
| nta (you, m.) | katdo99 | do99iti | do99 |
| nti (you, f.) | katdo99i | do99iti | do99i |
| howa (he) | kaydo99 | do99 | |
| hiya (she) | katdo99 | do99at | |
| 7na (we) | kando99o | do99ina | |
| ntouma (you, pl.) | katdo99o | do99ito | do99o |
| homa (they) | kaydo99o | do99o |
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “de9” but also “d99”, “da9”, “de99” and “do99”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.
Type “de9” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “to knock (at the door)”; “to pound, crush in a mortar”: do9 in Tunisian.