ssif الصيف
Moroccan Darija · noun
“ssif” (الصيف) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning summer (season).
Meanings
- summer (season)
- summer holidays
Usage
Ssif means summer. One says "had ssif" (this summer), "f ssif" (in summer) and "ssif jay" (next summer). For many people, the word also evokes the holiday period, the diaspora's return to the bled, and weddings. The verb sayyef means "to spend the summer somewhere", for example "sayyefna f lb7er" (we spent the summer at the seaside). It is also used to talk about someone going away on a summer holiday. The pronunciation wavers between ssif and ssayf, hence the varied spellings online.
Example
فين غاتصافر هاد الصيف؟
fin ghatSafer 8ad SSif?
“Where are you going to travel this summer?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ssif” but also “sif”, “sayf”, “ssayf” and “ssef”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “ssif” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “summer (season)”: sif in Tunisian.