7ala حالة
Tunisian Derja · noun
“7ala” (حالة) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning state, condition.
Meanings
- state, condition
- sight, outrageous scene
- case
Usage
7ala refers to the state of a person or thing: health, mood, material situation. You say "7altou mahich behya" (he's not doing well) or "7ala nafsiya" (psychological state). In informal speech, the word is used on its own as an exclamation at an embarrassing, comic or pitiful sight: "chouf 7ala!" (just look at that!), "mella 7ala" (what a state of affairs!). "Fi 7ala" means "in a bad state" or "upset". With a possessive, the form becomes 7alt-: 7alti, 7altek. The administrative sense "case" belongs to a more formal register.
Example
حالتو ماهيش باهية اليوم
7altou mahich behya elyoum
“He's not doing well today.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “7ala” but also “hala”, “7alla”, “7alet”, “7alt” and “7al”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 7 is ha (ح), a breathy h from the throat.
Type “7ala” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “case, situation”; “state, condition”: 7ala in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “state, situation, condition”; “a scene, a sensation (dar hala)”: hala in Algerian.