na3es ناعس
Tunisian Derja · adjective
“na3es” (ناعس) is an adjective in Tunisian Derja meaning asleep, sleepy.
Meanings
- asleep, sleepy
- sluggish, not alert
- languid (eyes)
Usage
Na3es describes someone asleep or drowsy. For someone sleeping deeply, "r9ed" is more common. Figuratively, it's a frequent reproach: being na3es means being slow, distracted, not noticing what's going on around you. It's close to the English "asleep" in "you're completely asleep!" In songs, you also find "3inin na3sin" (languid eyes), a rarer, poetic sense. The feminine is "na3sa" and the plural "na3sin".
Example
قوم، مازلت ناعس؟
9oum, mazelt na3es?
“Get up, are you still asleep?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “na3es” but also “na3ess”, “naes”, “na3s” and “naass”. 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.
Type “na3es” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “asleep, sleeping”; “lying in bed”: na3s in Moroccan.