sbe3tach سبعطاش
Moroccan Darija · numeral
“sbe3tach” (سبعطاش) is a numeral in Moroccan Darija meaning seventeen.
Meanings
- seventeen
Usage
Sbe3ṭach is the Moroccan form of "seventeen". The final ṭ is emphatic, as in all the numbers from eleven to nineteen (ḥdach, ṭnach, tlaṭach…). These numbers are followed directly by a singular noun: "sbe3ṭach drari" is also said, but "sbe3ṭach 3am" (seventeen years) is the normal construction. It is used for ages, dates, prices and quantities. In writing, سبعتاش is also found, with a plain t. For an English speaker, the main pitfall is forgetting the ʿayn (written 3) between b and ṭ.
Example
شريتها بسبعطاش درهم
chritha b sbe3Tach derham
“I bought it for seventeen dirhams.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “sbe3tach” but also “sb3tach”, “sba3tach” and “seb3tach”. 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.
Type “sbe3tach” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “seventeen”: sba3tach in Tunisian.