sif الصيف
Tunisian Derja · noun
“sif” (الصيف) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning summer (season).
Meanings
- summer (season)
Usage
Es-sif is the hot season, associated in Tunisia with the beach, weddings and the return of diaspora families. People say "fi s-sif" (in summer), "s-sif hedha" (this summer), "s-sif el jey" (next summer). The expression "dkhoul s-sif" evokes the start of the season. The word is almost always used with the article. Note: without the article and in another context, sif can also mean a sword in Arabic, but in everyday conversation it is almost always the season. The other seasons are chte, rbi3 and 5rif.
Example
في الصيف نمشيو للبحر كل نهار
fi s-sif nemchiw lel b7ar kol nhar
“In summer we go to the sea every day.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “sif” but also “essif”, “es-sif”, “sayf”, “seif” and “syf”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Its Arabic spelling is not fixed either: you will find الصيف and صيف, all the same word.
Type “sif” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “summer (season)”; “summer holidays”: ssif in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
The same word also exists in Algerian Darja, written صيف, where it means “summer (season)”: sif in Algerian.