cha3el شعل
Tunisian Derja · verb
“cha3el” (شعل) is a verb in Tunisian Derja meaning to light (fire, candle, cigarette).
Meanings
- to light (fire, candle, cigarette)
- to switch on (light, device)
- to stir up, inflame (figurative)
Usage
Cha3el is the usual verb for "light" or "turn on" in Tunisia. It is used for a fire, a candle, a cigarette or a stove, but also, very often, for a light, the television or an electrical appliance: cha3el edhaw, "turn on the light". Its opposite is tfi, "to put out, turn off". Figuratively, cha3el ennar, "to set fire", is said of someone who stirs up a quarrel or sets people against each other. The intransitive "to catch fire, light up" is rather t-cha3el. For an English speaker, note that a single verb covers both "to light" and "to switch on".
Example
شعّل الضوء، ما نشوف شيّ
cha3el edhaw, ma nchouf chay
“Turn on the light, I can't see anything.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “cha3el” but also “cha3al”, “ch3al”, “chaal” and “cha3ell”. 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 “cha3el” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “to light, turn on (fire, cigarette, light)”; “to catch fire”: cha3el in Algerian.