tsa3tach تسعطاش
Tunisian Derja · numeral
“tsa3tach” (تسعطاش) is a numeral in Tunisian Derja meaning nineteen.
Meanings
- nineteen
Usage
Tsa3tach is the usual form of "nineteen" in Tunisian. Like the other numbers from eleven to nineteen, it ends in -tach (7dach, thnach, tle3tach…). It is used for counting and for giving a date ("nhar tsa3tach", the nineteenth of the month), an age or a time. Before a noun, the number is followed by the singular: "tsa3tach dinar", "tsa3tach 3am". Pitfall: the standard form tis3ata 3achar is not used in speech, where it would sound very formal. In dates and prices, many Tunisians also switch to French ("dix-neuf").
Example
عندي تسعطاش عام
3andi tsa3tach 3am
“I'm nineteen years old.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “tsa3tach” but also “tes3tach”, “tsa3tache” and “ts3tach”. 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 “tsa3tach” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “nineteen”: ts3tach in Moroccan.