l3eb لعب
Moroccan Darija · verb
“l3eb” (لعب) is a verb in Moroccan Darija meaning to play.
Meanings
- to play
- to play a match, a role
- to mess with someone
Usage
Lʿeb (kayelʿeb, in the present) means "to play": a game, a sport or a match. People say lʿeb lkora (to play football) and lʿeb mʿa (to play with someone). With b, lʿeb b chi wahed means to toy with someone, to manipulate them. Lʿeb ʿla can mean to deceive or dupe. The same root gives lʿab (player), lʿob (toys, games) and lʿiba (a game, a trick). In arabizi, these forms are often written the same way. You therefore have to rely on context to tell them apart.
Example
المنتخب لعب دابا
lmontakhab la3eb daba
“The national team just played.”
Conjugation
Forms as recorded in DODa and reproduced in its spelling, which often leaves out short vowels.
| Imperfective (present) | Perfective (past) | Imperative | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ana (I) | kanl3b | l3bt | |
| nta (you, m.) | katl3b | l3bti | l3b |
| nti (you, f.) | katl3bi | l3bti | l3bi |
| howa (he) | kayl3b | l3b | |
| hiya (she) | katl3b | l3bat | |
| 7na (we) | kanl3bo | l3bna | |
| ntouma (you, pl.) | katl3bo | l3bto | l3bo |
| homa (they) | kayl3bo | l3bo |
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “l3eb” but also “l3b”, “l3ab”, “la3eb”, “le3eb” and “le3ab”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 3 is ayn (ع), a voiced sound from deep in the throat with no English equivalent.
Type “l3eb” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “to play (game, sport)”; “to play a role”: l3ab in Algerian.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “to play”; “to toy with, manipulate”: l3ab in Tunisian.