kallem كلم

Tunisian Derja · verb

“kallem” (كلم) is a verb in Tunisian Derja meaning to talk to someone.

Meanings

1. to talk to someone
2. to call, phone

Usage

Kallem means "to address someone". The verb is directly transitive: kallemtou, "I talked to him", kallem babah, "talk to his father". It is very often used in the sense of "to phone": nkallmek ba3d, "I'll call you later". For the general sense of "to speak" with no addressee, tkallem is used instead, as in yetkallem barcha, "he talks a lot". The pitfall for an English speaker is adding a preposition: there is no separate word for "to"; the pronoun attaches directly to the verb.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “kallem” but also “kalem”, “kallam”, “kalm” and “kallim”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.

Type “kallem” on the Arabic keyboard