batel باطل
Tunisian Derja · adjective
“batel” (باطل) is an adjective in Tunisian Derja meaning free, gratis.
Meanings
- free, gratis
- for nothing, in vain
- false, unjust (opposite of true)
Usage
In everyday language, bétel first of all means "free": "e dkhoul bétel" (entry is free), "khdhitha bétel" (I got it for nothing). Used as an adverb, it also means "in vain": "tat3ab fi rou7ek bétel" (you are tiring yourself out for nothing). The classical sense of "false, unjust", opposite of 7a9 (the true, the just), survives in expressions like "el 7a9 wel bétel". It is also found in religious vocabulary. Pitfall: in ordinary conversation, bétel most often means "free", not "worthless".
Example
الدخول باطل اليوم
e dkhoul bétel lyoum
“Entry is free today.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “batel” but also “bétel”, “baatel” and “be6el”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 6 is emphatic ta (ط).
Type “batel” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “for free, for nothing”; “in vain, pointlessly”: batel in Algerian.