chal شال
Tunisian Derja · verb
“chal” (شال) is a verb in Tunisian Derja meaning to lift, to carry.
Meanings
- to lift, to carry
- to take away, to remove
- shawl (noun)
Usage
Chal (imperfect ychil, imperative chil) means to lift or carry something. It is also used for "to take away": el wed chal el karhba, "the wadi carried the car away". It is a very common verb in everyday life: chil m3aya, "help me carry". The register is neutral. The same written form also designates the noun chal, "shawl", a common borrowing for the stole worn over the shoulders. Only context distinguishes the two. Note: some corpus sentences, with ديالي or راك حاب, belong to other Maghrebi dialects.
Example
شال الكرطونة وطلع بيها للدار
chal el kartouna w tla3 biha lel dar
“He lifted the cardboard box and carried it up to the house.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “chal” but also “chel”, “chil”, “ychil” and “shal”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.