9bar قبر
Tunisian Derja · noun
“9bar” (قبر) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning grave, burial place.
Meanings
- grave, burial place
- tomb of a saint
Usage
Qbar means the grave where a dead person is buried. The usual plural is qbour, and the cemetery is called jbana or maqbra. The word comes up in visits to relatives' graves, especially on feast days, and in visits to saints (wali), where candles are lit. It appears in affectionate or dramatic phrases: "nemchi lel qbar" (until death). Pronunciation varies by region: qbar in towns, gbar in many inland and southern regions. In written arabizi, the q is often written 9.
Example
مشينا نزورو قبر جدّي نهار العيد
mchina nzourou 9bar jeddi nhar el 3id
“We went to pay our respects at my grandfather's grave on Eid day.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “9bar” but also “qbar”, “gbar” and “kbar”. 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 “9bar” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “grave, tomb”: 9ber in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “grave, burial place”: kbar in Algerian.