tawattor توتّر
Moroccan Darija · noun
“tawattor” (توتّر) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning stress, nervous tension.
Meanings
- stress, nervous tension
- to get tense, get worked up
Usage
Tawattor ("stress", "tension") and the verb twetter ("to tense up", "to become nervous") come from Standard Arabic. They are found mostly in a somewhat formal register, in the media or about political or family tensions. In everyday conversation, many Moroccans prefer stress, mstressi or m9elle9 ("worried"). The possessive is built with dyal: tawattor dyalek ("your stress"). For an English speaker, using the word stress is also perfectly natural.
Example
ايخصك تحاول تنعس شوية، راه غادي يهدأ من توتر ديالك
aykhsk t7awal tn3as chwiya, rah ghadi ihda2 mn tawator dyalk
“You should try to sleep a little, it will calm your stress.”
Conjugation
Forms as recorded in DODa and reproduced in its spelling, which often leaves out short vowels.
| Imperfective (present) | Perfective (past) | Imperative | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ana (I) | kantwetter | twettert | |
| nta (you, m.) | kattwetter | twetterti | twetter |
| nti (you, f.) | kattwettri | twetterti | twettri |
| howa (he) | kaytwetter | twetter | |
| hiya (she) | kattwetter | twettrat | |
| 7na (we) | kantwettro | twettrna | |
| ntouma (you, pl.) | kattwettro | twettrto | twettro |
| homa (they) | kaytwettro | twettro |
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “tawattor” but also “tawator”, “twetter”, “twatter” and “totter”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.