kolchi كولّشي
Moroccan Darija · pronoun
“kolchi” (كولّشي) is a pronoun in Moroccan Darija meaning everything, all.
Meanings
- everything, all
- everyone (depending on context)
Usage
Kolchi is one of the most frequent words in darija. It is used as a standalone pronoun meaning "everything": kolchi mzyan (everything is fine), f kolchi (in everything, in every respect). It can be a subject, an object, or follow a preposition. In colloquial speech, it also sometimes means "everyone", for example in kolchi ja (everyone came). Kolchi is not placed before a noun. For "the whole" or "all the", use koll followed by the noun, or the construction lmadina kollha (the whole city).
Example
واش كولشي خلص
wash kolshi khlss
“Has everything been paid?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “kolchi” but also “koulchi”, “kollchi”, “kolshi”, “koullchi” and “kulchi”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Its Arabic spelling is not fixed either: you will find كولّشي and كل شي, all the same word.
Type “kolchi” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
The same word also exists in Algerian Darja, written كل شي, where it means “everything, all things”; “each thing”: kolchi in Algerian.