mkan مكان
Moroccan Darija · noun
“mkan” (مكان) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning place, location.
Meanings
- place, location
- spot, room
Usage
A common masculine noun for a place or a spot: had lmkan, "this place"; f shi mkan, "somewhere." It competes with blasa, borrowed from Spanish or French, which is more frequent in the sense of "free spot" or "seat." The plural is amakin, of a more formal register. Note: in arabizi writing, mkan can also stand for ma kan, "there was not" or "he was not." You therefore have to rely on context to tell the two apart.
Example
هاد المكان زوين بزاف
had lmkan zwin bzzaf
“This place is very beautiful.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “mkan” but also “makan” and “mkane”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “mkan” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “place, location”; “spot, space”: mkan in Algerian.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “place, location”; “spot, position”: mkan in Tunisian.