intikhabat انتخابات
Moroccan Darija · noun
“intikhabat” (انتخابات) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning elections, vote.
Meanings
- elections, vote
Usage
Intikhabat refers to elections, local or legislative. The word, of Standard Arabic origin, is in common use in conversations about politics and in the media. It is almost always plural and definite: l'intikhabat, often pronounced ntikhabat. For the act of voting, people say voter or t-sowwet instead; the French "les élections" is also heard in informal speech. The election period is waqt l'intikhabat. Typical phrases are l'intikhabat 9rab, "the elections are approaching", or ma ghadich nvoti f l'intikhabat, "I won't vote in the elections".
Example
تانفكّر واش ل إنتخابات قراب
tanfkker wach l intikhabat 9rab
“I wonder whether the elections are near.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “intikhabat” but also “ntikhabat”, “inti5abat” and “intikhabate”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 5 is kha (خ), like the ch in Scottish loch.