dhaya3 ضيع
Tunisian Derja · verb
“dhaya3” (ضيع) is a verb in Tunisian Derja meaning to lose, misplace.
Meanings
- to lose, misplace
- to waste (time, money)
- to miss (an opportunity)
Usage
Dhayya3 is very common in everyday speech. With an object, it means "to misplace": dhayya3t essarout, "I lost the key". With time, money or an inheritance, it means "to waste": dhayya3 waqtou, "he wasted his time". It is also used for a missed opportunity: dhayya3 el forsa. The intransitive sense "to get lost, to go astray" is expressed with another form, dhā3 or tdhayya3. Pitfall for an English speaker: to "lose" a match or a lawsuit, you do not use dhayya3 but khsar. The register is colloquial and neutral.
Example
ضيعت التليفون متاعي في الكار
dhayya3t ettalifoun mté3i fel kar
“I lost my phone on the bus.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “dhaya3” but also “dhayya3”, “dhayaa3”, “dhaye3” and “dheya3”. 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 “dhaya3” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “to lose, mislay”; “to waste (time, money)”: dyya3 in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “to lose, misplace”; “to waste (time, money)”: dayya3 in Algerian.