n3am نعم
Tunisian Derja · interjection
“n3am” (نعم) is an interjection in Tunisian Derja meaning yes? (answering a call).
Meanings
- yes? (answering a call)
- pardon? what?
- yes, indeed (in ey na3am)
Usage
N3am is above all the polite reply when someone calls you: the mother shouts the name, the child answers n3am? The word is also used to ask someone to repeat, like "pardon?". Depending on the intonation, it can take a defiant tone ("what, n3am?!"). To say "yes" in ordinary conversation, people tend to say ey instead. The form ey na3am reinforces an approval. An identical Arabic spelling is read ni3ma ("grace, blessing") in the religious formula 7asbiya Allah w ni3ma el wakil, which is a different word.
Example
نعم؟ شنوّة تحبّ؟
n3am? chnouwa t7eb?
“Yes? What do you want?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “n3am” but also “na3am”, “n3amm”, “ne3em”, “ni3ma” and “naam”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Its Arabic spelling is not fixed either: you will find نعم and انعم, all the same word.
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.