jber جبر
Moroccan Darija · verb
“jber” (جبر) is a verb in Moroccan Darija meaning to find.
Meanings
- to find
- to heal, knit (bone)
- algebra (school term)
Usage
Jber is the usual verb in Moroccan Arabic for "to find". The imperfect is yejber: ma jbertouch, "I didn't find it". The construction jber + pronoun + participle means "to find someone doing something": jbertou na3es, "I found him asleep". Jber mnnou, literally "to find before him", means "to be older than him". The verb is also used for a bone or limb that heals. The sense of "algebra" (l-jabr) belongs to school vocabulary and is pronounced differently. The proverb about honey advises going to look for something better elsewhere.
Example
لي جبر حسّن من لعسل يلحسّو
li jber 7ssen mn l3ssel yle7ssou
“Whoever finds something better than honey, let him lick it.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “jber” but also “jbr”, “jbert”, “jbar” and “jabr”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.