awel اول
Tunisian Derja · adjective
“awel” (اول) is an adjective in Tunisian Derja meaning first.
Meanings
- first
- beginning (mel awwel: from the start)
Usage
Awwel generally goes before the noun and does not agree with it: awwel marra (the first time), awwel nhar (the first day). Used on its own, you say el awwel (the first, masculine) and el awla (the first, feminine). With a suffixed pronoun, awelhom means "the first of them". Mel awwel means "from the start" or "from the beginning". A pitfall: awwel el bera7 does not mean "first yesterday" but "the day before yesterday". Month names can also depend on it, as in awwel ousou (early August).
Example
لالناس الكلّ و اوّلهم خطيبي
Lenas lkol w awelhom 5atibi
“To everyone, and first of all to my fiancé.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “awel” but also “awwel”, “awal” and “louel”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “awel” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “first”; “the beginning, at first”: awwel in Moroccan.