khtar ختار
Moroccan Darija · verb
“khtar” (ختار) is a verb in Moroccan Darija meaning to choose, select.
Meanings
- to choose, select
- to prefer, opt for
Usage
The verb khtar is the usual verb for "to choose" in darija, in all registers. The construction is direct: khtar + object. One often says khtar li bghiti, "choose what you want". Past: khtarit (I chose), khtar (he chose). Present: kankhtar (I choose). The noun ikhtiyar, "choice", is also used. The proverb khtar ljar 9bel ddar, "choose the neighbour before the house", is very well known. Pitfall for an English speaker: the same form khtar serves both as the imperative and as the third-person past.
Example
ختار لي عجبك
5tar li 3jbek
“Choose what you like.”
Conjugation
Forms as recorded in DODa and reproduced in its spelling, which often leaves out short vowels.
| Imperfective (present) | Perfective (past) | Imperative | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ana (I) | kankhtar | khtarit | |
| nta (you, m.) | katkhtar | khtariti | khtar |
| nti (you, f.) | katkhtari | khtariti | khtari |
| howa (he) | kaykhtar | khtar | |
| hiya (she) | katkhtar | khtart | |
| 7na (we) | kankhtaro | khtarina | |
| ntouma (you, pl.) | katkhtaro | khtarito | khtaro |
| homa (they) | kaykhtaro | khtaro |
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “khtar” but also “5tar”, “khetar”, “khtaar”, “khtare” and “ykhtar”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Its Arabic spelling is not fixed either: you will find ختار and اختار, all the same word.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 5 is kha (خ), like the ch in Scottish loch.
Type “khtar” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “to choose”; “to prefer, opt for”: 5tar in Tunisian.