chkoun شكون
Tunisian Derja · pronoun
“chkoun” (شكون) is a pronoun in Tunisian Derja meaning who (interrogative).
Meanings
- who (interrogative)
- someone (in "famma chkoun")
Usage
Chkoun is the everyday interrogative pronoun "who". It goes at the start of the sentence: "chkoun jé?" (who came?). It also appears in indirect questions: "ma na3rafch chkoun" (I don't know who). In the construction famma chkoun, it takes the indefinite sense "someone": "famma chkoun 9alli" (someone told me). It is often reinforced with za3ma ("chkoun za3ma?", who on earth, exactly?), with a nuance of irony or doubt. It does not change for gender or number. Do not confuse it with chnowa / chniya, which mean "what".
Example
شكون زعمة هههه
chkoun za3ma hh
“Who is that, exactly? Haha”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “chkoun” but also “shkoun”, “chkon”, “chkun” and “chkoon”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “chkoun” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “who (interrogative)”; “who (indirect question)”: chkoun in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “who (interrogative)”: chkoun in Algerian.