seb3tach سبعتاش
Tunisian Derja · numeral
“seb3tach” (سبعتاش) is a numeral in Tunisian Derja meaning seventeen.
Meanings
- seventeen
Usage
Seb3tach is the Tunisian form of "seventeen". Like the other numbers from eleven to nineteen, it ends in -tach. After the number, the noun stays singular: "seb3tach dinar" (seventeen dinars), "seb3tach sna" (seventeen years). It is used for age, prices, time and dates. On its own, it serves as an answer or for counting. In speech, you may also hear a slightly lengthened variant before the noun, but the form seb3tach is the most common.
Example
عمرو سبعتاش سنة
3omrou seb3tach sna
“He is seventeen years old.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “seb3tach” but also “sba3tach”, “sbe3tech”, “sab3tach” and “seb3tech”. 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.