marchi مارشي
Tunisian Derja · noun
“marchi” (مارشي) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning market (place to buy).
Meanings
- market (place to buy)
- groceries, shopping
- supermarket (in sûper marchi)
Usage
Marchi is a loanword from French "marché", fully integrated into everyday language. It refers to the covered or open-air market where you buy fruit, vegetables, meat and fish. El marchi central in Tunis is the best-known example. You say mchit lel marchi, "I went to the market". By extension, the word can refer to the shopping itself. It coexists with souk, which applies more to traditional or weekly markets. The plural marchiyet exists, but is rarely heard.
Example
نمشي للمارشي نشري الخضرة.
nemchi lel marchi nechri el khodhra.
“I'm going to the market to buy vegetables.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “marchi” but also “marché”, “marche”, “marchy” and “marchii”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Its Arabic spelling is not fixed either: you will find مارشي and مرشي, all the same word.
Type “marchi” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “market (place of sale)”; “supermarket (in "super marchi")”: marchi in Moroccan.