ntiba3 إنطباع
Moroccan Darija · noun
“ntiba3” (إنطباع) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning impression, general feeling.
Meanings
- impression, general feeling
Usage
Ntiba3 comes from Standard Arabic, but it is common in the darija of educated speakers, on radio and television, and in discussions about work. It is used mostly in expressions such as "3tani ntiba3" (he gave me the impression) or "3ndi ntiba3" (I have the impression). To say "I have the feeling that...", casual conversation prefers "ban liya" or "kan7ess". The word never means "impression" in the sense of printing a document: for that, people say "tba3a".
Example
عطاني انطباع مزيان من اللول
3tani ntiba3 mzyan mn lowel
“He made a good impression on me right from the start.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ntiba3” but also “intiba3” and “ntiba3a”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 3 is ayn (ع), a voiced sound from deep in the throat with no English equivalent.