9adekech قداكش
Tunisian Derja · expression
“9adekech” (قداكش) is an expression in Tunisian Derja meaning how … you are! (exclamation).
Meanings
- how … you are! (exclamation)
- how much you are
Usage
9addekech is built on 9addech ("how much") with the second-person pronoun -k. It is used to exclaim about a quality or flaw of the person you are talking to: "9addekech mezyen!" ("how nice you are!"), "9addekech tafeh!" ("how useless you are!"). The pronoun changes with the person: 9addeh-ech ("how he is"), 9addha-ech ("how she is"), 9addkom-ech ("how you are", plural). The word is followed directly by an adjective. It is colloquial, very common in speech, and is used for compliments as well as ironically.
Example
قداكش محظوظ، ربحت مرة أخرى!
9addekech m7dhouth, rba7t marra o5ra!
“How lucky you are, you won again!”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “9adekech” but also “9addekech”, “kadekech”, “qaddekech” and “9adakech”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.