sodfa صدفة
Moroccan Darija · noun
“sodfa” (صدفة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning chance, coincidence.
Meanings
- chance, coincidence
Usage
Sodfa means chance or coincidence. It is very often used in the adverbial phrase "b sodfa" (by chance): "tla9itu b sodfa" (I ran into him by chance). The exclamation "ya 3la sodfa!" expresses surprise at a coincidence. To stress that something is not accidental, say "machi sodfa." Pronunciation varies: sodfa, sedfa or sadfa depending on region and speaker. The word is common in all registers.
Example
ياح على صدفة!
ya8 3la Sodfa!
“What a coincidence!”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “sodfa” but also “sadfa”, “sedfa”, “soudfa” and “sodfaa”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “sodfa” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “chance, coincidence”; “by chance (b sodfa)”: sodfa in Algerian.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “chance, coincidence”; “by chance (bes-sodfa)”: sodfa in Tunisian.