mnayn مناين
Moroccan Darija · adverb
“mnayn” (مناين) is an adverb in Moroccan Darija meaning from where? (interrogative).
Meanings
- from where? (interrogative)
- from where (relative)
Usage
Mnayn is a variant of mnin, the most usual interrogative of origin in darija. Both forms are used to ask where a person or thing comes from: mnayn nta? ("where are you from?"), mnayn jiti? ("where did you come from?"). It is also used as a relative: "I don't know where he came from". It expresses a starting point or origin, not direction: for "where" you say fin, and for "to where" fin or l-fin. Depending on region and speaker, mnin is heard more often than mnayn; both are understood everywhere.
Example
مناين جيتي دابا؟
mnayn jiti daba?
“Where did you come from just now?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “mnayn” but also “mnin”, “mnine”, “mneyn” and “mnain”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.