ch3amel شعامل
Tunisian Derja · expression
“ch3amel” (شعامل) is an expression in Tunisian Derja meaning what are you doing?.
Meanings
- what are you doing?
- how are you, what's new?
- what he did (narrative)
Usage
Ch3amel is a contraction of chnoua, "what", and 3amel, the participle of "to do". It is used as a casual question: ch3amel? means "what are you doing?", and often simply "how are you, what are you up to these days?". The feminine is ch3amla and the plural ch3amlin. In a full sentence it also introduces what someone has done: chouf ch3amel, "look what he did". The register is spoken and informal. For an English speaker, the key point is that the participle agrees with the person being addressed.
Example
أهلا صاحبي، شعامل؟ لاباس؟
ahla sa7bi, ch3amel? labes?
“Hi my friend, how are you doing? Are you well?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ch3amel” but also “chaamel”, “ch3amal” and “cha3mel”. 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.