sira سيرة
Tunisian Derja · noun
“sira” (سيرة) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning mentioning someone, bringing up.
Meanings
- mentioning someone, bringing up
- reputation, conduct
- life story, biography
Usage
The word sira is used mostly in the expression jab sirt- ("to bring up the sira of"), which means to mention someone or bring a subject up. It is often heard in the negative to cut a conversation short: ma tjibch sirtou, "don't talk about him". The construction takes a suffix pronoun or a noun: sirtou ("of him"), sirt-ha ("of her"), sirt flen ("of so-and-so"). The word can also mean someone's reputation or conduct, good or bad. In a more formal register, it means a person's life or biography. The word is not slang.
Example
ما تجيبليش سيرتو، ما نحبش نسمع عليه.
ma tjibelich sirtou, ma n7ebbech nesma3 3lih.
“Don't bring him up to me, I don't want to hear anything about him.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “sira” but also “siret”, “sirtou”, “seera” and “sirat”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.