khmstach خمسطاش
Moroccan Darija · numeral
“khmstach” (خمسطاش) is a numeral in Moroccan Darija meaning fifteen.
Meanings
- fifteen
Usage
Khmstach, written here with an emphatic ṭ, is the spelling closest to the common pronunciation of the number fifteen. It is used for quantities, prices, age or time. Before a noun, it is followed by the singular: khmstach yum, khmstach derhem. For a quarter of an hour, rbe3 is often preferred, or rbe3 sa3a, especially when telling the time: l'wehda w rbe3. In arabizi, a capital T sometimes marks the emphatic. Be careful not to confuse it with khamsin, "fifty".
Example
عندو خمسطاش العام
3ndo khmsTach l3am
“He is fifteen years old.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “khmstach” but also “khamstach”, “5mstach” and “khemstach”. 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.
Type “khmstach” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “fifteen”: khmestach in Tunisian.