sma3 سمع
Tunisian Derja · verb
“sma3” (سمع) is a verb in Tunisian Derja meaning to hear, to learn news.
Meanings
- to hear, to learn news
- to listen
- to obey, to heed (advice)
Usage
Sma3 (imperfect yisma3, imperative esma3) means both "to hear" and "to listen", without a clear-cut distinction between the two: sma3t el 7ess (I heard the noise), nisma3 fi mousi9a (I'm listening to music), with fi for prolonged listening. With b, it means "to hear about": sma3t bih? (have you heard about him/it?). It also takes the sense of obeying: ma yisma3 kalam 7add (he listens to no one). The imperative esma3 or sma3 is used to get attention, like "listen". The noun sam3, "hearing", is rarer in conversation.
Example
سمعتوا بال مرا اللي في صفاقس روّحت من ميلان
sma3tou bel mra eli fi sfax raw7et men milan
“Did you hear about the woman from Sfax who came back from Milan?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “sma3” but also “esma3”, “isma3”, “sma3t” and “sme3”. 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 “sma3” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “to hear”; “to listen”: sme3 in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “to hear”; “to listen”: sma3 in Algerian.