achen اشن
Tunisian Derja · pronoun
“achen” (اشن) is a pronoun in Tunisian Derja meaning what (interrogative).
Meanings
- what (interrogative)
- which, what (before a noun)
Usage
Ichen (or achen) is an interrogative form of "what", close to ach and chnouwa, which are more frequent. It is placed at the start of a question, either alone or before a noun: ichen a7walek? "how are you?", literally "what are your news?" It belongs to colloquial spoken language and appears mainly in spontaneous writing, on social media or in messages. It is easily confused with ach, which more often combines with other words (ach bik, ach mta3). The spelling varies a lot online, with or without an initial vowel.
Example
اشن أحوالك اليوم؟
ichen a7walek lyoum?
“How are you today?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “achen” but also “ichen”, “ashen”, “echen” and “achn”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.