3jeb عجب
Tunisian Derja · verb
“3jeb” (عجب) is a verb in Tunisian Derja meaning to please, to appeal to someone.
Meanings
- to please, to appeal to someone
- to amaze, surprise (fixed sense)
Usage
3jeb works like the English verb "to please". The thing liked is the subject and the person is the object, attached by a suffix: 3ejbetni "she pleased me", ye3jbek? "does it please you?". An English speaker thinking "to like" risks reversing subject and object. Negation is formed with ma…ch: ma 3ejbounich "they did not please me". The verb is very common in speech for a dish, a garment, an idea or a person. For a lasting liking, 7abb "to love" is used instead.
Example
كان دنيا عجبتكشي اعرف راه منك ..
ken ddenya 3ejbetekchi a3ref rahou mennek ..
“If life doesn't please you, know that it's your own fault.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “3jeb” but also “3ejeb” and “3ajeb”. 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 “3jeb” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “to please someone, be liked”; “to impress, win over”: 3jeb in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “to please someone, be liked”; “wonder, amazing thing (noun)”: 3jeb in Algerian.