Ash and Shnoo

In Darija there are two ways to say the what, ash and shnoo. That’s basically it, I can end my article right here. Kidding aside I did find that these words function exactly the same. There are a few differences between the two.

So far I have only seen that shnoo is used in its original form. There is no modifications or combinations with other prepositions to form another meaning. Ash on the other hand has some other properties.

The first things I noticed is that ash can also be spelled as ashnu which also means what. What I thought was really interesting is that the ashnu looked like a merging with ash and shnoo. Ash also can be used as a relative pronoun with a meaning of which. For example the sentence l-moose b ash qata3at l-l7m madi would translate to the knife in which I cut the meat is sharp. Another sentence using this construct would be l otel f ash betna mashi gali. The hotel in which we stayed was not expensive. As you can when combining with a preposition this shows the word being used as a relative pronoun. ash emma has the meaning of anything or whatever. Didn’t we see this word emma before.

ashmen has the meaning of which. Lash is a merging of for + what which can also mean why. The word I learned for why in darija is 3lash which is eerily similar. Wash has interesting usage. The word means what but when used in a sentence the word then is added to the end of the sentence. For example the sentence, wash gadi ya3mal is translated to what is he going to do then. Although this does seem to be a very useful construction, wash can also mean, Do or is so you need to pay close attention to what is being said. There is a phrase using ash I would like to mention. makayen lash which means, there is no use or It’s not necessary. Looking at all the variations of this word makes me wonder if there are more? The word balash means no in a more polite way. Is this word constructed using ash?

So which one do you prefer between ash and shnoo? Ash seems to be very interesting because of all its different permutations. If you learn to use this word essentially your learning at least 7 different words so in terms of gaining vocabulary it’s definitely better. Personally I prefer shnoo. Shnoo seems to be the word I hear the most especially when visiting Morocco, which helps me to retain the meaning of the word. Also I find it easier since there are no variations. I know if I say shnoo it will be known to the other speaker as what and vice versa.

One last note. As I am really starting to learn Darija, i’m finding the online sources to be limited in the information I feel I need to succeed in my goal of learning Darija. I’ve decided to use some books to aid me in my journey. 

Word list