walou والو
Tunisian Derja · pronoun
“walou” (والو) is a pronoun in Tunisian Derja meaning nothing at all.
Meanings
- nothing at all
Usage
Walou means "nothing". In Tunisia, it is heard mainly at the end of a negative list with la, for example "la ... la ... w la walou" ("neither ... nor ... nor anything at all"). It then stresses complete emptiness or absence. It can also be used alone as a curt reply: "walou!". The register is informal. To say "nothing" in an ordinary sentence, Tunisians more often use chay ("ma fama chay"). Walou keeps an emphatic, sometimes scornful nuance: it stresses that something is worth nothing or brought nothing.
Example
لا خدمة لا قراية لا والو.
la khedma la 9raya la walou.
“No job, no studies, nothing at all.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “walou” but also “welou”, “walo”, “wallou” and “oualou”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “walou” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “nothing”; “no, not at all (reply)”: walo in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “nothing”; “not at all”: walou in Algerian.