mt3achi متعشي
Tunisian Derja · adjective
“mt3achi” (متعشي) is an adjective in Tunisian Derja meaning having had dinner.
Meanings
- having had dinner
- having eaten (in the evening)
Usage
Adjectival participle formed from the verb t3achcha (to have dinner). Mt3achi means "having already dined". It is often used to politely decline an invitation to eat ("merci, ena mt3achi") or to ask whether someone has eaten. The dish can be specified: "mt3achi chorba" ("I had a chorba for dinner"). The feminine is mt3achya and the plural mt3achyin. The pitfall for an English speaker is that no equivalent adjective exists in English: it must be translated by a past-tense phrase, "I have (already) had dinner".
Example
لا يعيشك، أنا متعشّي.
le y3aychek, ena mt3achi.
“No thank you, I've already had dinner.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “mt3achi” but also “mit3achi”, “mta3achi” and “mt3ashi”. 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.