steslem ستسلم
Moroccan Darija · verb
“steslem” (ستسلم) is a verb in Moroccan Darija meaning to surrender, give in.
Meanings
- to surrender, give in
- to give up, throw in the towel
Usage
Steslem, present tense kaystesslem, is a borrowing from Standard Arabic adapted to darija: the initial vowel drops. It is used mostly figuratively, meaning "to give up" in the face of a difficulty, an illness or an opponent. It is often constructed with l: steslem l-lqadar, "he resigned himself to fate". In everyday speech, sellem or tsalla are more common. The negative form is frequent in encouragement: ma testeslemch, "don't give up". The register remains somewhat more formal than that of the purely dialectal equivalents.
Example
ما تستسلمش، باقي عندك الوقت
ma testeslemch, baqi 3ndek lwe9t
“Don't give up, you still have time.”
Conjugation
Forms as recorded in DODa and reproduced in its spelling, which often leaves out short vowels.
| Imperfective (present) | Perfective (past) | Imperative | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ana (I) | kansteslem | steslemt | |
| nta (you, m.) | katsteslem | steslemti | steslem |
| nti (you, f.) | katsteslmi | steslemti | steslmi |
| howa (he) | kaysteslem | steslem | |
| hiya (she) | katsteslem | steslemat | |
| 7na (we) | kansteslmo | steslemna | |
| ntouma (you, pl.) | katsteslmo | steslemto | steslmo |
| homa (they) | kaysteslmo | steslemo |
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “steslem” but also “stesslem”, “stasslam” and “stslem”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.