mat7af متحف
Tunisian Derja · noun
“mat7af” (متحف) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning museum.
Meanings
- museum
Usage
Mat7af means a museum, in the same form as in Standard Arabic. It is used mainly for cultural institutions, such as the Bardo Museum or archaeological museums. The plural is mté7ef. In conversation, the word is often built with mta3: mat7af mta3 el fnoun ("the museum of arts"). Many speakers also simply say "musée" in the French way, especially in cities. As a joke, you can say that something very old belongs in the mat7af.
Example
نهار الأحد مشينا للمتحف متاع باردو.
nhar l a7ad mchina lel mat7af mta3 Bardo.
“On Sunday we went to the Bardo museum.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “mat7af” but also “mathef”, “mat7ef”, “mathaf” and “mat7of”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 7 is ha (ح), a breathy h from the throat.
Type “mat7af” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “museum”: mt7af in Moroccan.