chniya اشنية
Tunisian Derja · pronoun
“chniya” (اشنية) is a pronoun in Tunisian Derja meaning what.
Meanings
- what
- which, what (before a noun)
Usage
Echniya, often shortened to chniya, is the common interrogative pronoun for "what". The word is particularly Tunis-specific. It is used alone ("chniya?", "what?") or at the start of a question: "chniya hadha?" ("what is this?"). It exists alongside chnouwa, with the same meaning. Usage sometimes holds that chniya goes with a feminine referent and chnouwa with a masculine one, but many speakers use them interchangeably. Before a noun, it can mean "which": "chniya el mochkla?". It is not the standard Arabic interrogative (mādhā).
Example
اشنية صار البارح؟
chniya sar el bara7?
“What happened yesterday?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “chniya” but also “chnia”, “echniya”, “chnya” and “achniya”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.