I have come to realize that I really like synonyms. I think it’s the fact that I can use one word for many different usages, which means there is less vocabulary to learn. This is why I really enjoy writing these types of articles. With a small amount of vocabulary you can build many different sentences. So let’s get into the word bla.
I first heard this word as a response to thank you. The phrase was bla jmil which literally translates to without honor and is used as your welcome. So my assumption was that bla was simply a negation word. Upon researching, I found this word is much much more.
The word bla is also a verb, the verb has many meanings which are listed below:
to get old (objects, not people) |
to become used |
to wear out |
to teach |
to show |
to cause |
to allow (someone to take up bad habits) |
to corrupt |
Here are a few examples of using this verb.
- Mellii ybla 7wayji nshri 7wayej jdad – When my clothes get old I buy new clothes
- lli bla ya3fu – may he who has allowed this corruption have mercy
(to understand the verb conjugation please visit the post on verb conjugation in the members section, to access the post click here)
Just like the verb, bla has a number of different meanings as well
Calamity |
Misfortune |
Catastrophe |
trouble maker |
Without |
- 3ndu wa7d lweld bla – He has a son that’s a trouble maker
- safet lbra bla tinber – He sent the letter without me.
When bla is followed with ma (bla + ma) it means without staying or without sitting.
- bla
ma y3ml 7ta shi haja – he sat there without doing a thing.
When bla is appended with sh it means for nothing, free or without (it)
- wash bghiti n3tih lik blash – Do you want me to give you it for free?
In summary bla can be used to express a number of different things including old objects, to show someone, to describe a bad habit, or bad character, some sort of bad event, and of course it can be used to express the word without. Usually I try to find a similarity of all the words, unfortunately I can’t find any common elements with these words. But on the bright side, this one word is translated to 16 different English words (that’s 16 less Darija words you need to learn) ?
Word list
khls | to pay |
l3b | to play |
slla | to pray |
fddl | to prefer |
wjjd | to prepare |
wa3d | to promise |
9ra | to read |
9ra | to study |
ndm | to regret |
39l | to remember |
shbh | to resemble |
9awm | to resist |
rj3 | to return |
jra | to run |
9al | to say |
ghwwt | to scream |
shaf | to see |
ba3 | to sell |
seeft | to send |
khiyyt | to sew |
wrra | to show |
sna | to sign |
n3s | to sleep |
If you are interesting in learning Arabic, there is a free 6 day course that will teach you everything you need to know to get started. Arabic has helped me a lot with my darija journey. If you’re serious about learning just click on the laptop and begin your journey.