mas2la مسالة
Tunisian Derja · noun
“mas2la” (مسالة) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning matter, issue.
Meanings
- matter, issue
- problem to solve
Usage
Mas2la (often pronounced mesla) refers to a matter or an issue in the sense of "the subject at hand". It is heard mostly in phrases such as "mas2la wa9t" (a matter of time), "mas2la zhar" (a matter of luck) or "mas2la 7ayet w mout" (a matter of life and death). The word comes from Standard Arabic, but it is fully integrated into everyday speech. Careful: it is not used to ask a question, which is sou2el. It corresponds rather to "affair", "story" or "problem". The Arabic spelling varies between مسالة and مسألة.
Example
هاذي مسالة وقت برك
hedhi mas2la wa9t bark
“It's just a matter of time.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “mas2la” but also “mesla”, “masla”, “mas2ala” and “mes2la”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 2 is hamza (ء), a glottal stop.
Type “mas2la” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “matter, affair”; “point, subject”: mas2ala in Moroccan.