soum سوم
Tunisian Derja · noun
“soum” (سوم) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning price, cost.
Meanings
- price, cost
- asking price when haggling
Usage
Soum is the common word for "price" in Tunisian, both at the market and in online ads. The typical question is 9addech soumou? (how much does it cost?) or soumou 9addech? One often says soum ṭāle3 (prices are going up) or soum ghāli (it's expensive). When haggling, a3ṭini soumek, or a3ṭi soumek (give your last price), invites the seller to state their price. With a suffix pronoun: soumou (his/its price), soumha (her/its price, feminine). The plural aswām is rare in everyday use.
Example
كان ما زال بربّي قدّاش سومه
kan mazale brabi kedach soumo
“If it's still available, please, how much is it?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “soum” but also “som”, “some”, “sum” and “soumou”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.