kif كيف
Moroccan Darija · preposition
“kif” (كيف) is a preposition in Moroccan Darija meaning like, similar to.
Meanings
- like, similar to
- how (in greetings)
- kif, cannabis for smoking
Usage
Kif is mainly used to compare, in the sense of "like": dir kif drari, "do like the others". Doubled, kif kif means "the same, it's all the same". The word is also used in fixed greetings: kif dayr? (masculine) and kif dayra? (feminine), "how are you?". Kif ma means "like, the way that". Pitfall: to ask a real question about manner, one says kifach instead. Finally, kif also refers to the cannabis traditionally smoked in Morocco.
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “kif” but also “kife”, “keef” and “kiff”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “kif” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “how”; “like, similar to”: kif in Algerian.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “like, same as”; “when”: kif in Tunisian.