rb3a ربعة
Moroccan Darija · numeral
“rb3a” (ربعة) is a numeral in Moroccan Darija meaning four.
Meanings
- four
Usage
rb3a is the number four, used on its own for counting or answering ("ch7al? — rb3a"). Before a noun, one often says rb3a d- or rb3a dyal ("rb3a d l-iyam", four days), sometimes directly followed by the plural noun ("rb3a nas"). Before some common nouns, a short form rbe3 is also used ("rbe3 snin"). Do not confuse it with rbe3, which also means "quarter". The noun that follows is plural, unlike what happens from eleven onwards.
Example
راكبين عليه ربعة ناس
rakbin 3lih rb3a nas
“There are four people riding on it.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “rb3a” but also “reb3a”, “rab3a”, “rba3a”, “rbe3a” and “arba3a”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Its Arabic spelling is not fixed either: you will find ربعة and اربعة, all the same word.
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.
Type “rb3a” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “four”: rab3a in Algerian.
In Tunisian Derja
The same word also exists in Tunisian Derja, written اربعة, where it means “four”: arb3a in Tunisian.