khmestach خمسطاش
Tunisian Derja · numeral
“khmestach” (خمسطاش) is a numeral in Tunisian Derja meaning fifteen.
Meanings
- fifteen
Usage
Khmestach is the Tunisian form of "fifteen", built like the other numbers from eleven to nineteen, which all end in -tach. Before a noun, -el is often added: khmestachel dinar, "fifteen dinars". The noun that follows stays singular. It is also used for dates (khmestach fi sebtembre) and for the time, but for "quarter past" w rbo3 is used instead. In prices, fifteen millimes or fifteen dinars are generally just said khmestach. It is the only form used in speech, whatever the register.
Example
عندي خمسطاشل دينار برك.
3andi khmestachel dinar bark.
“I only have fifteen dinars.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “khmestach” but also “5mestach”, “khmastach”, “5mastach” and “khmstach”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Its Arabic spelling is not fixed either: you will find خمسطاش and خمستاش, all the same word.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 5 is kha (خ), like the ch in Scottish loch.
Type “khmestach” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “fifteen”: khmstach in Moroccan.