ghatta غطى

Tunisian Derja · verb

“ghatta” (غطى) is a verb in Tunisian Derja meaning to cover.

Meanings

1. to cover
2. to hide, cover up (a flaw)
3. to cover for someone

Usage

Ghatta means to cover in the literal sense: a pot, a sleeping child, the head. In the present tense, one says "yghatti". Figuratively, it means to hide a fault or a shortcoming, or to protect someone by concealing their mistakes. A pitfall: the noun "ghta", very close in writing, means the blanket or the lid. The imperative "ghatti rassek" (cover your head) is often heard when it is cold.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ghatta” but also “ghata”, “8atta”, “ghatti” and “8ata”. 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 “ghatta” on the Arabic keyboard

In Moroccan Darija

The same word also exists in Moroccan Darija, written غطّا, where it means “to cover, cover up”; “to hide, conceal”: ghtta in Moroccan.