3amel عامل
Tunisian Derja · adjective
“3amel” (عامل) is an adjective in Tunisian Derja meaning who has done, who has prepared.
Meanings
- who has done, who has prepared
- worker, laborer
- pretending (with rou7ou)
Usage
3amel is the active participle of the verb 3mel (to do). It describes a result or present state: "3amel jaw" (he's livening things up), "3amel mzeyya" (he has done a favour). It agrees in gender and number: 3amla in the feminine, 3amlin in the plural. With a reflexive pronoun, "3amel rou7ou" means "he pretends": "3amel rou7ou ma yasma3ch" (he acts as if he can't hear). As a noun, 3amel means a worker or employee. This sense is more formal. The sense of "postman" belongs to standard Arabic and is not commonly used in conversation. Pitfall: 3amel does not always translate as "worker". It often corresponds to a perfect tense ("has done").
Example
شكون عامل الماكلة اليوم؟
chkoun 3amel il makla lyoum?
“Who made the meal today?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “3amel” but also “3amil”, “aamel”, “3amal” and “3amalell”. 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 “3amel” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “governor (of a province, prefecture)”; “having done (participle of 3mel)”: 3amel in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “doing, having done”; “worker, employee”: 3amel in Algerian.