nmout 3lik نموت عليك
Tunisian Derja · expression
“nmout 3lik” (نموت عليك) is an expression in Tunisian Derja meaning I adore you, I'm crazy about you.
Meanings
- I adore you, I'm crazy about you
- I love it (of things)
Usage
Nmout 3lik literally means "I die for you". It is a declaration of intense affection. It is said to a lover, but also, very often, to a child, a mother or a close friend, with a tender nuance. The preposition adapts: nmout 3lih (I adore him), nmout 3liha (I adore her). It is also used for a thing: nmout 3al kosksi (I love couscous). Colloquial, affectionate register. Despite the verb "to die", the expression is not morbid at all and should not be translated word for word.
Example
نموت عليك يا بنتي
nmout 3lik ya benti
“I adore you, my daughter.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “nmout 3lik” but also “nmout alik” and “nmoot 3lik”. 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 “nmout 3lik” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “I adore you, I love you to death”; “I love it (thing, food)”: nmout 3lik in Algerian.