ttijah إتجاه
Moroccan Darija · noun
“ttijah” (إتجاه) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning direction, way.
Meanings
- direction, way
- orientation, trend
Usage
Ittijah comes from Standard Arabic but is commonly used in darija, especially for a physical direction: "f had ttijah" (in this direction), "f ttijah dyal Casa" (towards Casablanca). In speech, the initial vowel often drops: one hears "ttijah" more than "ittijah". In everyday conversation, to ask for directions, people also readily say "mnin ghadi ?" or "fin ghadi ?" rather than use this word. In the figurative sense (orientation, trend), it belongs to a more formal register: media, school, political speech.
Example
آه، ولكن شمن اتجاه؟
ah, walakin chmn itijah?
“Yes, but which direction?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ttijah” but also “ittijah”, “ittija8”, “ttija8” and “itijah”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 8 is light ha (ه) or ghayn (غ), depending on the writer.