sou2el سؤال
Tunisian Derja · noun
“sou2el” (سؤال) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning question, inquiry.
Meanings
- question, inquiry
- request for information
Usage
A common word, pronounced sou2el or souel. It appears in fixed expressions such as 3andi sou2el ("I have a question") or n7eb nes2lek sou2el ("I would like to ask you a question"). The plural is as2la, a rather formal form. The register is neutral: the word is used in daily life as well as in school or customer-service contexts. Mind the pronunciation: the hamza is often softened or dropped, hence the spellings souel and soual. The related verb is sa2el or sel ("to ask, to question").
Example
عندي سؤال صغير، تنجم تعاوني؟
3andi sou2el sghir, tnajem t3awenni?
“I have a small question, can you help me?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “sou2el” but also “souel”, “soual”, “so2el” and “su2el”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 2 is hamza (ء), a glottal stop.
Type “sou2el” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “question”; “puzzle, problem to solve”: sou2al in Algerian.