Hi everyone, i’m back with another article. Hopefully I can get back to writing these more often. During my time in Morocco, while trying to speak to people I had this habit of thinking of a sentence in English and trying to translate it word for word into darija and then trying to adjust it so that it made sense. I found myself trying to translate the verb ‘to think’ a lot. Unfortunately I kept using the darija word khmmem every time I wanted to say I think (nkhmmem). This doesn’t work in every scenario. Using the word “think” in darija is used differently.
The word think in darija is used in many different ways and using the right word in the right scenario is important. In my research I found there are 5 definitions of the word ‘think’. Although they all seem to have a similar meaning there are a few slight distinctions which I will explain below.
Darija words for think
| khmmem | This is the general meaning of think (at least to me). You use this word when you want to express stopping and reflecting over something |
| ban l bin | This word is a bit tricky because of the construction. The ban and bin remain the same but the l is attached with a personal pronoun to define who is doing the thinking. This word is used with a meaning of think as in seem or appear |
| nwa | This verb is used to express thinking as believing something. |
| denn | this verb is similar to the one above, with the meaning of thinking as believing. |
| 39el | This version of the translation to think is used with reminding |
I think I will provide sentences at the end of this article. Well I will provide the sentences, I just wanted to use the word think in this sentence.
There are also some phrases that can be translated with the word think inside them. Here are a few
hada klamek – That’s what you think!
gadi nshoof – I’ll think about it (I will see)
ma fiha bas – Think nothing of it (no harm done)
bla jmil – Think nothing of it (you’re welcome)
Now I will have to spend some time thinking about how to use these words.
All joking aside, it does seem like a daunting task to learn all these words and when to use them. I think the best way is to find someone to speak to and practice using the different meanings.
Examples of sentences
khmmem – Shnoo tkhmmem – What are you thinking about?
ban l bin – ma-ban-lik-sh bin kayen tlj bezzef lyoom – Don’t you think there is too much snow today?
nwa – ma-nwitu-sh yji lyoom – I didn’t think he would come today
denn – dennina bin hna – We thought he was here
39el – daba ma-39el-t-sh sem dyalu – I can’t think of his name right now
Works Cited
Harrell, Richard S., et al. A Dictionary of Moroccan Arabic: Moroccan-English, English-Moroccan. Georgetown University Press, 1963.