9as قاص
Tunisian Derja · adjective
“9as” (قاص) is an adjective in Tunisian Derja meaning cut off (water, power).
Meanings
- cut off (water, power)
- out, interrupted
Usage
Qas is mainly said of a domestic service that's been cut off: water, electricity, sometimes the network. You say el-ma qas (the water is cut off) or edhaw qas (there's no power). It's a common word in informal register. It's often used without an expressed subject when the context is clear. It also appears with "3and" to say the outage affects someone: qas 3andhom (at their place, it's cut off). The opposite is rja3 (it came back). Pitfall for an English speaker: the word describes the service itself, not a person.
Example
الماء قاص من الصباح، ما نجمتش نغسل.
el ma qas mel sbe7, ma njamtech naghsel.
“The water has been cut off since this morning, I couldn't wash.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “9as” but also “qas”, “gas” and “kas”. 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.