kteb كتاب
Tunisian Derja · noun
“kteb” (كتاب) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning book.
Meanings
- book
- school textbook
Usage
Ktéb is the common word for "book". In Tunisia, the final a is often pronounced like an è (ktéb), which explains the spelling kteb. The usual plural is kotb. At school, the kotb are the textbooks, bought at the start of the school year. For a notebook, people usually say kurrès or kayé. The word also refers to the Quran in a few religious expressions, but in everyday use it keeps the neutral meaning of "book". It is used with the Tunisian possessive mte3: el-ktéb mte3i, "my book".
Example
شريت كتاب جديد للقراية
chrit ktéb jdid lel 9raya
“I bought a new book for school.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “kteb” but also “ktab”, “ktéb”, “ktèb” and “kitab”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “kteb” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “book”: ktab in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “book”; “the Quran (ktab Allah)”: ktab in Algerian.