aslan اصلا
Tunisian Derja · adverb
“aslan” (اصلا) is an adverb in Tunisian Derja meaning basically, anyway.
Meanings
- basically, anyway
- even, at all (in questions)
- originally
Usage
Aslan is very common in speech to reinforce a statement: "aslan ma ni7ebech" (anyway, I don't want any). In questions, it challenges a prior assumption, with the sense of "did you even...?": "inti aslan wsolt ?" (did you even arrive?). The etymological sense "originally" exists but is rarer. It comes at the start of a sentence or after the subject. The tone can be irritated or insistent. Its Latin spelling varies a lot.
Example
أصلا ما كنتش باش نمشي.
aslan ma kontech bech nemchi.
“Anyway, I wasn't going to go.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “aslan” but also “asslan” and “a9lan”. 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 “aslan” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “anyway, in any case, to begin with”; “at all (with negation)”: aslan in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “anyway, in the first place”; “(with negation) not even, not at all”: asslan in Algerian.