r3a رعا
Moroccan Darija · verb
“r3a” (رعا) is a verb in Moroccan Darija meaning to graze, to herd to pasture.
Meanings
- to graze, to herd to pasture
- to tend livestock
- to graze (of an animal)
Usage
R3a is the rural verb of the shepherd: taking animals to pasture and watching them while they graze. It takes a direct object: r3a lghnem (to graze the sheep), r3a lbhayem (to tend the animals). In the present, one says kayr3a. The shepherd is ra3i and the pasture is mra3. Used alone, the verb can also describe an animal grazing. Note: the sense "to raise livestock" given by some translations is too broad, since r3a mainly means watching over animals at pasture. The classical sense "to take into account, to respect" belongs to Standard Arabic and is not used this way in everyday darija.
Example
إمتا غادي ت رعا لبهايم
imta ghadi t r3a lbhaym
“When are you going to take the animals to pasture?”
Conjugation
Forms as recorded in DODa and reproduced in its spelling, which often leaves out short vowels.
| Imperfective (present) | Perfective (past) | Imperative | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ana (I) | kanr3a | r3it | |
| nta (you, m.) | katr3a | r3iti | r3a |
| nti (you, f.) | katr3ay | r3iti | r3ay |
| howa (he) | kayr3a | r3a | |
| hiya (she) | katr3a | r3aat | |
| 7na (we) | kanr3aw | r3ina | |
| ntouma (you, pl.) | katr3aw | r3ito | r3aw |
| homa (they) | kayr3aw | r3ao |
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “r3a” but also “ra3a”, “r3aa” and “rea”. 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.