sab3in سبعين
Tunisian Derja · numeral
“sab3in” (سبعين) is a numeral in Tunisian Derja meaning seventy.
Meanings
- seventy
Usage
Sab3in is the number seventy. As with all the tens, the counted noun stays singular: "sab3in dinar", "sab3in 3am". Units are placed before it, joined by w: "khamsa w sab3in" for seventy-five. The number is formed directly on sab3a (seven), with no arithmetic. In prices you sometimes hear old units of account such as the frank; context then shows what sum is really meant.
Example
جدّي عندو سبعين عام.
jeddi 3andou sab3in 3am.
“My grandfather is seventy years old.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “sab3in” but also “sab3ine”, “seb3in”, “sabaa3in” and “sab3een”. 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 “sab3in” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “seventy”: seb3in in Moroccan.