m3amla معاملة
Tunisian Derja · noun
“m3amla” (معاملة) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning way of treating someone.
Meanings
- way of treating someone
- administrative procedure, formality
- transaction (financial)
Usage
M3amla refers first to the way one behaves toward someone. It is used mostly with the verb 3amel: 3amlou m3amla behya, “he treated him well”. At a counter, at the bank or at the post office, the word also means an operation or a formality: t7eb ta3mel m3amla okhra?, “do you want to do another transaction?”. Finally, it appears in more formal expressions such as m3amla mélia, “financial transaction”. It should not be confused with the medical sense of “treatment”: for medical treatment, one says dwa or 3ilej instead.
Example
عاملوني معاملة باهية برشا في الإدارة
3amlouni m3amla behya barcha fel idara
“They treated me very well at the administration.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “m3amla” but also “mou3amla”, “mu3amla”, “ma3amla” and “mo3amla”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 3 is ayn (ع), a voiced sound from deep in the throat with no English equivalent.
Type “m3amla” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “way of treating people, behavior”; “transaction, business dealing”: m3amla in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “way of treating people”; “dealings, relations”: m3amla in Algerian.