gato قاطو
Tunisian Derja · noun
“gato” (قاطو) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning cake.
Meanings
- cake
- birthday cake
Usage
Gato is an adapted loan from French "gâteau", in everyday use in Tunisia. It refers mainly to European-style cake: sponge cake, chocolate cake, birthday cake. Traditional Tunisian pastries, such as baklawa or makroudh, have their own names and are generally not called gato. Common constructions are "na3mel gato" (I'm making a cake) and "gato mta3 3id miled" (birthday cake). The word is often treated as feminine, as shown by "gato wa7da", whereas it is masculine in French.
Example
عملت قاطو بالشكلاطة لعيد ميلادها.
3malt gato bechkoulata l3id miledha.
“I made a chocolate cake for her birthday.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “gato” but also “gateau”, “gatou”, “gâteau” and “9ato”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.