9bal قبل
Tunisian Derja · preposition
“9bal” (قبل) is a preposition in Tunisian Derja meaning before.
Meanings
- before
- previously, before (adverb)
- to accept (verb 9bel)
Usage
9bal is first of all a preposition of time: 9bal el 3id, "before Eid". Followed by ma and a verb, it forms "before (+ clause)" or "before (+ -ing)": 9bal ma nemchiw, "before we leave". Used alone, it is an adverb: "before, previously" (kont nemchi 9bal, "I used to go there before"). The form 9bal lyoum means "until now, formerly". The same root gives the verb 9bel, ye9bel, "to accept". Only context distinguishes this verb from the adverb. Pronunciation varies: 9bal in town, gbal in some regions.
Example
قبل اليوم كنت نتمنّى لو كان يرجع بنا ال وقت ,
9bal lyoum kont netmana law kén yarja3 bina el wa9t ,
“Before today, I used to wish that time could take us back.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “9bal” but also “9bel”, “kbal”, “9abl”, “gbal” and “9abla”. 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.
Type “9bal” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “before (time)”; “previously, before that”: 9bel in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “before (in time)”; “to accept, agree”: qbel in Algerian.