ba3 باع
Tunisian Derja · verb
“ba3” (باع) is a verb in Tunisian Derja meaning to sell.
Meanings
- to sell
- to betray, sell out
Usage
Ba3 is the common verb for "to sell". The imperfect is ybi3 ("he sells"), nbi3 ("I sell"). It is often paired with chra (to buy) in the expression ba3 w chra, which means trading, or talking at length and haggling. The person sold to is introduced by l-: ba3li, "he sold me". Figuratively, ba3 can mean to betray someone or one's principles, much as "sell" does in colloquial English. Do not confuse it with bé3 ("it was sold"), which is sometimes heard as a passive.
Example
ملّا سلعة باعوا ها لي
Malla sel3a ba3ou heliii
“What goods they sold me!”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ba3” but also “baa3”, “bé3”, “be3” and “baa”. 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.
Type “ba3” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “to sell”; “to betray, to sell out”: ba3 in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “to sell”; “to betray (figurative)”: ba3 in Algerian.