sou9 سوق
Tunisian Derja · noun
“sou9” (سوق) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning market, souk.
Meanings
- market, souk
- business (as in mouch sou9ek)
Usage
Sou9 means the market: a covered market, a medina souk or a weekly market. The latter is often named after the day it is held, for example sou9 el 7ad (the Sunday market). The plural is swe9 or aswe9. Mchit lel sou9 means "I went shopping at the market". In a colloquial register, mouch sou9ek means "it's none of your business", i.e. "mind your own business". The expression is a bit curt. The 9 represents the q sound.
Example
نمشي للسوق نشري خضرة
nemchi lel sou9 nechri khodhra
“I'm going to the market to buy vegetables.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “sou9” but also “souk”, “souq” and “swe9”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.
Type “sou9” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “market, souk”; “weekly market”: sou9 in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “market, souk”; “business, one's own affair”: souk in Algerian.