9tel قتل
Tunisian Derja · verb
“9tel” (قتل) is a verb in Tunisian Derja meaning to kill.
Meanings
- to kill
- murder (noun: 9atl)
- to exhaust, to exasperate (figurative)
Usage
The verb is 9tel in the past ("9tel", "9telt") and yo9tel or ye9tel in the imperfect. The noun form 9atl refers to murder or the act of killing. This latter use is more formal and frequent in the news. In the figurative sense, usage is very common: "9tleni bel 3ya" (he exhausted me), "9tlouni bel dh7ak" (they made me die laughing). "9tel rou7ou" means to kill oneself, or to work oneself to death. In the passive, one says "t9tel" (to be killed). Context makes it possible to tell the literal, serious sense from the informal exaggeration.
Example
هههه عذّبه و ما تقتلهش
hhhhhhhh 3dbou w ma te9tlouch
“Hahaha, torture him but don't kill him.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “9tel” but also “9atl”, “9atel”, “qtel” and “ktel”. 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 “9tel” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “to kill, murder”; “to wear out, exasperate (figurative)”: 9tel in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “to kill”; “to exhaust, exasperate (figurative)”: 9tel in Algerian.