7dha حدا
Tunisian Derja · preposition
“7dha” (حدا) is a preposition in Tunisian Derja meaning next to, near.
Meanings
- next to, near
Usage
7dha (often written حدا online) means "next to", "right beside". It readily takes suffixed pronouns: 7dheya ("next to me"), 7dhek, 7dhah. It is used to locate a person or a place: sakna 7dha el jeme3 ("she lives next to the mosque"). Beware of a pitfall in writing: the same spelling حدا is used in other dialects to mean "someone". That sense is not Tunisian, where "someone" is 7ad or wa7ed. To resolve the ambiguity, look at the context.
Example
أقعد حدايا، فما بلاصة.
o9ead 7dheya, famma blasa.
“Sit next to me, there's room.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “7dha” but also “7dé”, “7da”, “7dhe” and “hdha”. 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 “7dha” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “beside, next to”; “at, with (someone)”: 7da in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “next to, near”; “by, with (someone)”: hda in Algerian.