na99es نقص
Tunisian Derja · verb
“na99es” (نقص) is a verb in Tunisian Derja meaning to reduce, cut down (transitive).
Meanings
- to reduce, cut down (transitive)
- to lower (sound, price)
- to decrease, be lacking (intransitive, n9es)
Usage
The form na99es is transitive: you reduce something, often with the preposition men: na99es mel makla (eat less), na99es mel sigarou (smoke less). For sound or light, one says na99es mel sout ("turn the sound down"). Bargaining also uses this verb: na99esli chwaya (give me a bit off the price). The simple form n9es is intransitive: el flous n9sou (the money has decreased, some is missing). The related noun na9s means a lack or shortage.
Example
نقّص من الصوت شويّة
na99es mel sout chwaya
“Turn the volume down a bit.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “na99es” but also “na9es”, “na9as”, “na9is” and “nakkes”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.
Type “na99es” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “to reduce, decrease”; “to shorten, trim a little”: n99es in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “to reduce, lower, turn down”; “to consume less of something”: na9es in Algerian.