mo9addima مقدمة
Moroccan Darija · noun
“mo9addima” (مقدمة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning introduction to a text or talk.
Meanings
- introduction to a text or talk
- preamble, opening
Usage
Mo9addima means the introduction of an essay, a book or a speech. The word is borrowed from Standard Arabic and belongs mainly to school vocabulary: one speaks of the mo9addima of an assignment, then the body of the text and the conclusion. In conversation it is also used to mean "without beating around the bush", for example bla mo9addima. The pronunciation often follows Standard Arabic, but a more dialectal form, m9eddma, is also heard. Do not confuse it with m9eddma, the woman who leads a brotherhood or a ritual group: that is a different usage, to be checked against the context.
Example
كتب المقدمة ديال الموضوع عاد كمّل
kteb lmo9addima dyal lmawdou3 3ad kemmel
“Write the introduction to the topic, then finish.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “mo9addima” but also “mo9adima”, “mqaddima”, “m9addima” and “mou9addima”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.
Type “mo9addima” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “introduction (of a text, speech)”; “opening theme (series, show)”: moqaddima in Algerian.