mkalma مكالمة
Tunisian Derja · noun
“mkalma” (مكالمة) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning phone call.
Meanings
- phone call
- phone conversation
Usage
Mkalma means a phone call. The word comes from Standard Arabic, but it is commonly used in Tunisia, especially in a somewhat formal register: at the counter, in operators' advertisements, or to specify the type of call (mkalma dawliya, "international call"; mkalma chakhsiya, "personal call"). In everyday conversation, people more readily say "appel" in the French way, or use a verb like kallem ("to call") or dharab talifoun. The plural is mkalmet. With the expression a3mel mkalma, you get "to make a call".
Example
عندي مكالمة مهمّة، نرجعلك بعد شويّة.
3andi mkalma mohemma, narja3lek ba3d chwaya.
“I have an important call, I'll call you back in a bit.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “mkalma” but also “moukalma”, “mokalma”, “mkelma” and “mukalama”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “mkalma” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “phone call”: mokalama in Moroccan.