ghanna غنى

Tunisian Derja · verb

“ghanna” (غنى) is a verb in Tunisian Derja meaning to sing.

Meanings

1. to sing
2. to sing for someone

Usage

Ghanna means to sing, both literally and figuratively (a heart singing, a bird). One says "ghanna m3a" (to sing with, as a duet) and "ghanna lel…" (to sing for…). The present is conjugated nghanni, tghanni, yghanni. A song is ghnaya and a singer is mghanni. Caution: without the doubled consonant, the written form غنى can be read as ghina, "wealth" in Standard Arabic, a meaning that does not belong to everyday spoken language.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ghanna” but also “ghana”, “8anna”, “ghenna” and “ghanni”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.

Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 8 is light ha (ه) or ghayn (غ), depending on the writer.

Type “ghanna” on the Arabic keyboard

In Moroccan Darija

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “singing, sung music”; “wealth, comfort”: ghna in Moroccan.