t3attel تعطل

Tunisian Derja · verb

“t3attel” (تعطل) is a verb in Tunisian Derja meaning to be late, linger.

Meanings

1. to be late, linger
2. to break down
3. to delay, hold up

Usage

T'attel first means "to be late, to linger": t'attelt ("I was delayed"), 3lech t'attelt? ("why are you late?"). It also means "to break down", for a car, a machine or a network: el karhba t'attlet. Note that the same spelling can be the conjugated form of 'attel ("to delay, to block"). So t'attel masalih el mwatin means "it holds up the citizen's procedures". Context tells you which of the two readings applies.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “t3attel” but also “t3atel”, “ta3attel” and “t3attal”. 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 “t3attel” on the Arabic keyboard

In Algerian Darja

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “to be late, to take long”; “to linger, to dawdle”: t3ettel in Algerian.