ksar كسر
Tunisian Derja · verb
“ksar” (كسر) is a verb in Tunisian Derja meaning to break, smash.
Meanings
- to break, smash
- fraction (mathematics)
Usage
Read as ksar, it is the verb "to break" in the third person masculine past: ksar el blar (he broke the glass). The imperfect is yaksar. The intensive form kassar stresses destruction or repetition (breaking everything). One also says ksar khatrou (he upset him, literally "he broke his heart"). Read as kasr, the same written word is a noun meaning "fraction" in mathematics, a school term borrowed from Standard Arabic, or "fracture". Since Arabic script does not distinguish the two, only context can settle it.
Example
الصغير كسر الكاس
Es-sghir ksar el kés
“The little boy broke the glass.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ksar” but also “kser”, “kasr”, “ksir” and “kassar”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “ksar” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “break, smash to pieces”; “hurt, offend (kesser l-khaṭer)”: kesser in Moroccan.