ts3a تسعة
Moroccan Darija · numeral
“ts3a” (تسعة) is a numeral in Moroccan Darija meaning nine (number).
Meanings
- nine (number)
Usage
Ts3a is the number "nine". Used alone, for counting or telling the time, it keeps its full form: f ts3a, "at nine o'clock". Before a noun, a d is usually inserted: ts3a d nnas, "nine people", ts3a d liyam, "nine days". The noun then follows in the plural. There is also a short form, tsa3, used directly before certain nouns of measure or time, as in tsa3 snin, "nine years". Both forms coexist, and the short form is not obligatory. Do not confuse with tsa3tach, "nineteen".
Example
جات فتسعة د الصباح
jat f ts3a d sba7
“She arrived at nine in the morning.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ts3a” but also “tes3a”, “tis3a”, “tess3a” and “tsa3”. 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.
Type “ts3a” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “nine (digit, number)”; “nine o'clock”: tes3a in Tunisian.