m7atta محطة
Moroccan Darija · noun
“m7atta” (محطة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning bus station.
Meanings
- bus station
- train station
- station (gas, tram)
Usage
M7etta refers to a place where transport stops or departs. In Morocco, it is used mainly for the bus station (m7ettat ttobisat, the CTM station) and for tram stops. For the train station, lagar is more often used, but m7etta is still understood. People also say m7ettat lbenzin, "gas station," although the French word station is common in that sense. The article is pronounced l-m7etta. The initial vowel varies by speaker (ma7atta, m7etta), hence the many spellings.
Example
غادية ل محطة
ghadia l ma7atta
“I'm going to the station.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “m7atta” but also “m7etta”, “ma7atta”, “mahatta”, “m7ta” and “ma7tta”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 7 is ha (ح), a breathy h from the throat.
Type “m7atta” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “station, bus station”; “stop, stage”: mahatta in Algerian.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “station, stop (transport)”; “bus or train station”: mhatta in Tunisian.