tmenya w 3echrin تمنية وعشرين
Moroccan Darija · numeral
“tmenya w 3echrin” (تمنية وعشرين) is a numeral in Moroccan Darija meaning twenty-eight.
Meanings
- twenty-eight
Usage
Tmenya w 3echrin follows the usual order in darija: the unit first, then the ten, linked by w ("and"). An English speaker says the opposite, hence the pitfall. After this number, the noun stays singular: tmenya w 3echrin youm, tmenya w 3echrin dirham. It is commonly used for dates (the twenty-eighth of the month), age and prices. 3echrin is pronounced with the consonant 3 (ʿayn), often written with the digit 3 in arabizi.
Example
غادي نرجع نهار تمنية وعشرين
ghadi nrje3 nhar tmenya w 3echrin
“I'll be back on the twenty-eighth.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “tmenya w 3echrin” but also “tmnia w 3chrin”, “tmanya w 3ichrin”, “tmenia ou 3chrine” and “tmnya w 3echrin”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 3 is ayn (ع), a voiced sound from deep in the throat with no English equivalent.