9bila قبيلة

Tunisian Derja · adverb

“9bila” (قبيلة) is an adverb in Tunisian Derja meaning a while ago, a short time ago.

Meanings

1. a while ago, a short time ago
2. tribe
3. earlier, before

Usage

The same written word covers two readings. In everyday speech, 9bila is an adverb referring to the recent past: "9bila jé", "he came a while ago". It never refers to the near future, for which you say "ba3d chwaya". The noun 9bila, "tribe", belongs mostly to history, genealogy or a more formal register. It is also used figuratively, with humour, for a large family. Context almost always makes it possible to tell the two meanings apart.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “9bila” but also “gbila”, “qbila”, “kbila” and “9billa”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.

Its Arabic spelling is not fixed either: you will find قبيلة and قبيلا, all the same word.

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 “9bila” on the Arabic keyboard

In Moroccan Darija

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “tribe”; “a moment ago, earlier”: 9bila in Moroccan.

In Algerian Darja

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “tribe”; “clan, group of related families”: qbila in Algerian.