ba7dha بحذا
Tunisian Derja · preposition
“ba7dha” (بحذا) is a preposition in Tunisian Derja meaning next to, beside.
Meanings
- next to, beside
- at the home of, with
Usage
Ba7dha indicates immediate proximity: ba7dha el bir (next to the well). It very often combines with suffixed pronouns: ba7dhi (next to me), ba7dhek, ba7dhah, ba7dhom. With a person, it can mean “at the home of” or “with”: bet ba7dha khaltou (he slept at his aunt's). It is a very common word in speech, more precise than 9rib (near), which only marks a short distance. In arabizi writing, the consonant dh is often written th, hence the spellings ba7tha or bahtha.
Example
الايامات الآخرى بتنا بحذا عزّوزة !
layemet lekhra betna ba7tha Azzouza !
“The other days, we slept next to Azzouza!”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ba7dha” but also “bahdha”, “ba7dh”, “b7dha”, “bhdha” and “b7dhe”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Its Arabic spelling is not fixed either: you will find بحذا and بحذ and بحذى, all the same word.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 7 is ha (ح), a breathy h from the throat.