bousta بوسطة
Tunisian Derja · noun
“bousta” (بوسطة) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning post office, postal service.
Meanings
- post office, postal service
- mail, post
Usage
Bousta is the common word in Tunisia for the post office, both the office you go to and the postal service in general. It is almost always used with the article: el bousta. You say mchit lel bousta (I went to the post office), tanber bousta (postage stamp) or sandou9 bousta (mailbox). The word also covers the post office's financial services, like the postal account or money orders. It belongs to the informal, everyday register. Official documents use the standard word, but in speech bousta is by far the most natural.
Example
لازمني نمشي للبوسطة نبعث جواب.
lezmni nemchi lel bousta neb3eth jweb.
“I have to go to the post office to send a letter.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “bousta” but also “bosta”, “busta” and “posta”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “bousta” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “post office”; “mail”: bosta in Moroccan.