bent 3ammi بنت عمي
Tunisian Derja · expression
“bent 3ammi” (بنت عمي) is an expression in Tunisian Derja meaning my cousin (paternal uncle's daughter).
Meanings
- my cousin (paternal uncle's daughter)
Usage
Bent 3ammi specifically means the daughter of one's paternal uncle. For the daughter of a maternal uncle, one says bent khali, and for the daughters of aunts, bent 3amti (paternal side) or bent khalti (maternal side). The English "cousin" does not make these distinctions, which Tounsi always marks. The possessive is built in: bent 3ammek ("your cousin"), bent 3ammou ("his cousin"). For the masculine, one says wled 3ammi. The colloquial plural is also used: bnet 3ammi.
Example
بنت عمي جاية من فرنسا الصيف هذا
bent 3ammi jeya men fransa e sif hedha
“My cousin is coming from France this summer.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “bent 3ammi” but also “bint 3ami”, “bent 3ami” and “bnt 3ammi”. 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 “bent 3ammi” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “my cousin (paternal uncle's daughter)”: bnt 3mi in Moroccan.