saken ساكن
Tunisian Derja · adjective
“saken” (ساكن) is an adjective in Tunisian Derja meaning living, residing (somewhere).
Meanings
- living, residing (somewhere)
- resident, inhabitant
Usage
Saken is the participle of "to live (somewhere)". In practice, it works as a present-tense verb: ena saken fi Sousse, "I live in Sousse". It marks gender and number: saken for the masculine, sakna for the feminine, sakninn for the plural. It is built with fi for the place and m3a for the person you live with. It is also used as a noun for "inhabitant" or "resident" of a building or neighbourhood. For a whole city, people more often say mte3 or wild. It should not be confused with the adjective "calm", a sense that is rare in speech.
Example
أختي ساكنة في صفاقس وأنا ساكن في تونس.
okhti sakna fi Sfax w ena saken fi Tounes.
“My sister lives in Sfax and I live in Tunis.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “saken” but also “sakin”, “sekin” and “saakin”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “saken” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “living, residing (somewhere)”; “inhabitant, resident”: sakn in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “living, residing”; “resident”: sakan in Algerian.