arba3 اربع
Tunisian Derja · numeral
“arba3” (اربع) is a numeral in Tunisian Derja meaning four.
Meanings
- four
Usage
The number "four" has two forms in Tunisian. Before a plural noun, you say arba3: arba3 snin ("four years"), arba3 bibén ("four doors"). Used on its own, for counting or answering a question, you rather say arb3a: "9addéch? — arb3a". For a time of day, you say el arb3a ("four o'clock"). Online, people often simply write the digit 4. Note: in arabizi, the digit 4 is never a letter, unlike 3, 7 or 9. The name of the insect om arba3a w arb3in, "centipede", contains this number.
Example
قعدت اربع سنين في فرنسا
9a3edt arba3 snin fi frança
“I spent four years in France.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “arba3” but also “arb3a”, “areb3a” and “erba3”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 3 is ayn (ع), a voiced sound from deep in the throat with no English equivalent.