z3ej زعج
Moroccan Darija · verb
“z3ej” (زعج) is a verb in Moroccan Darija meaning to bother, to disturb someone.
Meanings
- to bother, to disturb someone
- to annoy, to upset
Usage
A common transitive verb: z3ej someone means to disturb or bother them, through noise, insistence or a request. It is heard mostly in the imperfect and the negative imperative, with the object pronoun attached to the verb: ma tz3ejnich ("don't disturb me"), ma bghitch nz3jek ("I didn't want to disturb you"). The latter is a polite formula used when asking something of someone. The word belongs to the ordinary register and is also suitable in polite contexts. In speech, the vowel often drops before suffixes (nz3jek). The object is direct: no preposition goes before the person disturbed.
Example
ما تزعجنيش، راني خدام
ma tz3ejnich, rani khddam
“Don't disturb me, I'm working.”
Conjugation
Forms as recorded in DODa and reproduced in its spelling, which often leaves out short vowels.
| Imperfective (present) | Perfective (past) | Imperative | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ana (I) | kanz3ej | z3ejt | |
| nta (you, m.) | katz3ej | z3ejti | z3ej |
| nti (you, f.) | katz3ji | z3ejti | z3ji |
| howa (he) | kayz3ej | z3ej | |
| hiya (she) | katz3ej | z3jat | |
| 7na (we) | kanz3jo | z3jna | |
| ntouma (you, pl.) | katz3jo | z3ejto | z3jo |
| homa (they) | kayz3jo | z3jo |
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “z3ej” but also “za3aj”, “z3aj” and “zaaj”. 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.