dwa دوا
Moroccan Darija · noun
“dwa” (دوا) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning medicine, remedy.
Meanings
- medicine, remedy
- chemical product (insecticide, treatment)
- to speak (verb dwa, ydwi)
Usage
As a noun, dwa is the usual word for "medicine": tablets, syrup or ointment. People say chreb dwa for "to take medicine", whatever its form, and chra dwa men l-pharmacie for "to buy medicine at the pharmacy". The word also refers, more broadly, to a treatment product, for example an insecticide or a plant treatment. There is a homograph verb, dwa, ydwi, which means "to speak": chkoun li kaydwi? means "who is speaking?". Context tells the two apart.
Example
خاص نشرب دوا
5ass nchrb dwa
“I have to take medicine.”
Conjugation
Forms as recorded in DODa and reproduced in its spelling, which often leaves out short vowels.
| Imperfective (present) | Perfective (past) | |
|---|---|---|
| ana (I) | kandwi | dwit |
| nta (you, m.) | katdwi | dwiti |
| nti (you, f.) | katdwi | dwiti |
| howa (he) | kaydwi | dwa |
| hiya (she) | katdwi | dwat |
| 7na (we) | kandwiw | dwina |
| ntouma (you, pl.) | katdwiw | dwito |
| homa (they) | kaydwiw | dwaw |
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “dwa” but also “doua”, “dwaa”, “ddwa”, “dawa” and “dwaw”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “dwa” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “medicine, remedy”; “product (insecticide, treatment)”: dwa in Algerian.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “medicine, medication”; “remedy, fix (figurative)”: dwa in Tunisian.