mer7ba مرحبا
Moroccan Darija · interjection
“mer7ba” (مرحبا) is an interjection in Moroccan Darija meaning welcome.
Meanings
- welcome
- gladly, with pleasure
Usage
Mer7ba is the welcome formula par excellence: it is said when receiving someone, often as "mer7ba bik" (welcome to you) or "mer7ba bikom" (to you all). It also expresses warm acceptance: answering a request with "mer7ba" means "with pleasure, of course". "Ji mer7ba" or "ji diha mer7ba" invites someone to come or to take something without hesitation. The word conveys hospitality and is used in all registers. Not to be confused with a simple greeting: it is not used to say hello to someone you run into.
Example
جي مرحبا بيك
ji marhba bik
“Come, welcome.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “mer7ba” but also “marhba”, “merhba”, “mar7ba” and “mrhba”. 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 “mer7ba” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “welcome”; “hello, hi”: marhba in Algerian.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “welcome”; “with pleasure, gladly”: mar7be in Tunisian.