tab طاب
Moroccan Darija · verb
“tab” (طاب) is a verb in Moroccan Darija meaning to be cooked, be ready (dish).
Meanings
- to be cooked, be ready (dish)
- to ripen (fruit)
- to repent, give up a vice
Usage
Tab is an intransitive verb: the dish cooks, it does not cook something. One asks "wach tab lmakla?" (is the meal ready?). To say "to cook" (something), the transitive form tiyyeb is used. In the present, one says kaytib. Tab also means to ripen, for a fruit. In another sense, it means to repent or give up a vice: "tab mn lgaro" (he quit smoking). The corresponding adjective is tayeb (cooked, ripe). The pitfall for an English speaker is using tab with a direct object.
Example
واش طاب ولا لا
wach tab wla la
“Is it cooked or not yet?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “tab” but also “taab” and “teb”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “tab” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “to be cooked, done”; “to ripen (fruit)”: tab in Tunisian.