gelt قلت
Moroccan Darija · verb
“gelt” (قلت) is a verb in Moroccan Darija meaning I said / you said.
Meanings
- I said / you said
- I told myself, I thought
Usage
Gelt is the perfective form of the verb gal / 9al, "to say". With these vowels it is used for the first person: gelt lik, "I told you". With the same Arabic spelling, it can also correspond to the second person masculine, depending on pronunciation. A frequent use is gelt + verb, meaning "I told myself, I felt like". For example, ghir gelt njerreb means "I just told myself I would try". Pronunciation varies by region: g in many regions, 9 (q) in cities such as Fès or Tétouan, or even a glottal onset. The person addressed is introduced with l-: gelt lih.
Example
قلت ليك ما تمشيش
glt lik ma tmchich
“I told you not to go.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “gelt” but also “glt”, “galt”, “9lt” and “9elt”. 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 “gelt” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “I said”; “you said”: golt in Algerian.