nja نجا
Moroccan Darija · verb
“nja” (نجا) is a verb in Moroccan Darija meaning to escape (a danger).
Meanings
- to escape (a danger)
- to survive
Usage
Nja (imperfect "ynja") means to escape a danger, an accident or a punishment, and to come out safe and sound. One says "nja men l-mout", "he escaped death". The word appears in the very well-known proverb "lli khaf nja": "whoever is afraid gets out of it". This proverb is used to justify caution. The verb does not have the technical sense of "surviving for a long time": it refers to a happy outcome in the face of a specific threat. The causative form "nejja", "to save", is used in invocations: "llah ynejjik".
Example
اللي خاف نجا
lli 5af nja
“Whoever is afraid gets out of it.”
Conjugation
Forms as recorded in DODa and reproduced in its spelling, which often leaves out short vowels.
| Imperfective (present) | Perfective (past) | |
|---|---|---|
| ana (I) | kannja | njit |
| nta (you, m.) | katnja | njiti |
| nti (you, f.) | katnjay | njiti |
| howa (he) | kaynja | nja |
| hiya (she) | katnja | njaat |
| 7na (we) | kannjaw | njina |
| ntouma (you, pl.) | katnjaw | njito |
| homa (they) | kaynjaw | njao |
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “nja” but also “naja” and “ynja”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “nja” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “to escape a danger, to get out”; “to survive (an accident, an illness)”: nja in Tunisian.