7jez حجز

Tunisian Derja · verb

“7jez” (حجز) is a verb in Tunisian Derja meaning to book (seat, room, ticket).

Meanings

1. to book (seat, room, ticket)
2. to seize, confiscate

Usage

7jez is used to reserve a seat, a hotel room, a table or a ticket. The corresponding noun, 7ajz, is very common in the phrase ya3mel 7ajz, "to make a reservation". In an administrative or police sense, the verb means "to seize" or "to confiscate": la douane 7jzet la marchandise, the police seized the car. Context is enough to tell the two senses apart. In colloquial speech, many Tunisians also say réservi, borrowed from French. Finally, the passive ta7jez or t7jez is found, meaning "to be seized" or "to be reserved".

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “7jez” but also “hjez”, “7ajz”, “7ajez” and “hajz”. 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 “7jez” on the Arabic keyboard

In Moroccan Darija

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “to book, reserve (seat, ticket, room)”; “to seize, confiscate”: 7jez in Moroccan.