3mara عمارة

Tunisian Derja · noun

“3mara” (عمارة) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning building, apartment block.

Meanings

1. building, apartment block

Usage

3mara refers to a building of several floors, generally residential. One says "nuskon fi 3mara" (I live in an apartment building). The word contrasts with "dar" or "villa", which refer to a single-family house. The plural is 3marat. To talk about an apartment within the building, people often use "appartement" or "chi99a". Amara also exists as a Tunisian family name. In that case, it is a proper noun and not this word.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “3mara” but also “3imara”, “3emara” and “amara”. 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 “3mara” on the Arabic keyboard

In Moroccan Darija

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “apartment building, multi-storey building”; “edifice, construction”: 3imara in Moroccan.

How to say “apartment building” in Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian