sab3a سبعة
Tunisian Derja · numeral
“sab3a” (سبعة) is a numeral in Tunisian Derja meaning seven.
Meanings
- seven
Usage
"Sab3a" is the number seven. It is used on its own for counting, for telling the time ("sab3a", "seven o'clock") or before a plural noun: "sab3a iyyem". In the numbers eleven to nineteen, it takes a contracted form, "sba3tech", meaning "seventeen". "Seventy" is "sab3in". Online spellings vary depending on the vowel written: "sab3a" or "seb3a". The digit "3" there stands for the letter ʿayn.
Example
عندي سبعة أيام عطلة
3andi sab3a iyyem 3otla
“I have seven days off.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “sab3a” but also “seb3a”, “sab3” and “saba3a”. 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 “sab3a” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “seven”: seb3a in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “seven”: seb3a in Algerian.