gles ڭلس
Moroccan Darija · verb
“gles” (ڭلس) is a verb in Moroccan Darija meaning to sit down.
Meanings
- to sit down
- to stay, to remain
Usage
Gles is the common verb for "to sit down". Glles, with the doubled consonant, means "to make someone sit". The imperative gles, "sit down", is very frequent, but more politely one says tfeddel gles. The second meaning, "to stay", is just as important: gles f blastek means "stay in your place", and gles f d-dar, "stay at home". For an English speaker, the pitfall is always translating it as "sit", when context often requires "stay". The participle gales means "seated", but also "idle, out of work". This verb corresponds to jles, the variant with initial j used in some regions.
Example
ڭلس قرا شوية
gls 9ra chwiya
“Sit down and read a little.”
Conjugation
Forms as recorded in DODa and reproduced in its spelling, which often leaves out short vowels.
| Imperfective (present) | Perfective (past) | Imperative | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ana (I) | kangls | glst | |
| nta (you, m.) | katgls | glsti | gls |
| nti (you, f.) | katglsi | glsti | glsi |
| howa (he) | kaygls | gls | |
| hiya (she) | katgls | glsat | |
| 7na (we) | kanglso | glsna | |
| ntouma (you, pl.) | katglso | glsto | glso |
| homa (they) | kayglso | glso |
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “gles” but also “gls”, “glas”, “gless”, “jles” and “jless”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Its Arabic spelling is not fixed either: you will find ڭلس and جلس, all the same word.