How nouns function in Tunisian Arabic
Understanding how nouns function in Tunisian Arabic can give a learner and speaker an important advantage in understanding how to construct understandable and conventional statements and phrases.
There are two important aspects to understand on this topic: First, unlike English, but like many forms of speech around the world, Tunisian Arabic is a gender-based dialect. And second, also unlike English, but like many languages or dialects around the world (which includes Turkish), the spelling of a noun is modified to show possession.
This article will explain both of the above concepts. That is, how knowing the gender of certain types of nouns assists a speaker in constructing statements and how nouns conjugate based on the subject that possesses them.
In addition to the above, this article will look at the similarities and differences between singular and plural nouns and the influence that French and Standard Arabic (Fos7a / فصحى) have had on Tunisian Arabic.
Gender-based nouns
In Tunisian Arabic all nouns have a gender designation. Sometimes it’s obvious: Whenever the Arabic suffix -a / ة (The Arabic letter (i.e., ة) is called Te2 marbouta / تاء مربوطة) appears affixed to a singular-form noun, it is an indication that the noun is in the feminine form. Some examples that include the suffix -a / ة- that are feminine-based include:
With that said, observing the -a / ة- is useful to assist with identifying the gender of a noun, but isn’t provided as a suffix on every feminine-based noun. Below are nouns that are feminine-based but don’t have the hallmark Te2 marbouta (the -a / ة-).
- Sun – Chams / شمس
- House – Dar / دار
- Ground – 9a3 / قعّ (With this said, in some regions of Tunisia, this word is spelled 9a3a /قاعة. In either spelling, this word is treated as feminine-based amongst speakers of the Arabic dialect.)
When it comes to masculine-based nouns, in many cases (but not in all cases, as covered above) the lack of the suffix -a / ة- is the indication that the noun is masculine. Here are some examples of masculine-designated nouns:
Knowing the gender-designation of a singular form noun assists someone in constructing coherent sentences and statements. Most commonly when integrating nouns into statements, phrases like: It is…, This is…, and That is… are used. (E.g., It is a tree., That is a car. This is the key for the apartment., etc.)
This is a crucial point: In Tunisian Arabic, the translations for It is, This is, and That is all have two variations, and the variant that is selected in a statement is entirely based on the gender-designation of the singular form noun that is the object of the statement.
To understand the above paragraph more, first, let’s go over the translations of It is…, This is… & That is… in Tunisian Arabic:
It is… & This is… (the same): (masculine form) Hedha / هذا; (feminine form) Hedhi / هذي
That is: (m) Hedheka / هذاكا / (f) Hedhika / هاذيكا
(In the Sfaxian region of Tunisia (Sfax is the country’s second largest city) the words (m) Heka / هاكا; (f) Heki / هاكي are more conventionally used than (m) Hedheka / هذاكا / (f) Hedhika / هاذيكا)
Therefore, if you wish to say the three examples above, here are their translations after considering the gender-designation of the operative noun in each statement. (the operative noun is underlined in each statement)
- It is a tree. — Hedhi chajra. / .هاذي شجرة (Chajra is feminine-based)
- That is a car. — Hedhika karhba. / .هاذيكا كرهبة (Karhba is feminine-based)
- This is the key for the apartment. — Hedha mefte7 el bortmen. / .هذا مفتاح البرطمان (Mefte7 is masculine-based)
And here is a more complex example that appears on the IBL “Delicious” in Tunisian Arabic page:
“The food in this restaurant is delicious!” is translated as
- El mekla fel restaurant hedha bnina! / !الماكلة في الرستورون هذا بنينة
Restaurant / رستورون is masculine-based so hedha / هذا is used. What can make this statement more interesting for learning is that mekla / ماكلة (“food“) is feminine-based. So the word bnina / بنينة (“delicious”) is used, which is the word in the feminine form. (the masculine form of the word is Bnin / بنين) To understand how adjectives work in Tunisian Arabic, access the guide, How adjectives function in Tunisian Arabic.
In the below four recordings, IBL contributor Aroua F. pronounces Hedha / هذا, Hedhi / هذي, Hedheka / هذاكا, & Hedhika / هاذيكا.
Hedha:
Hedhi:
Hedheka:
Hedhika:
French-rooted words
Many Tunisian Arabic words and phrases have French roots. Words such as Appartement / أبارتومون (in French, an apartment), Stylo (in French, a pen) and Sac ساك (in French, a bag) are words regularly spoken amongst Tunisian Arabic speakers. And in many cases, like indigenous Tunisian Arabic words, there is strong consensus about the gender-designations of these nouns. But overwhelming and consistent consensus amongst speakers with all French-rooted words isn’t always the case.
Below are three Tunisian Arabic words with clear French origins where there is an overwhelming consensus amongst speakers as to their gender-designation:
- Appartement / أبارتومون (m)
- Casquette / كسكات (f)
- Stylo / ستيلو (m)
And below are three more Tunisian Arabic words with French roots, but there isn’t clear consensus as to the gender-designations of the nouns:
- Sac / ساك
- Croissant / بورتفوي
- Vase / كرواسون
In other words, you may hear someone speaking Tunisian Arabic say Hedha vase and another speaker say Hedhi vase, and in these cases, if translated into English, what is spoken in either case is, “It is a vase.”
The one exception
In addition to It is…, This is…, That is…, another common way to introduce a noun is the phrase There is… In Tunisian Arabic, There is… is translated as Famma / فمّا. Unlike the phrases It is…, This is… & That is… when translated into Tunisian Arabic, Famma… is the only way to express There is…, regardless of the gender-designation of the noun that is the object of the statement.
So for example:
“There is a duck floating on the pond!” — (f) Famma batta t3oum fel berka. /فما بطة تعوم في البركة
“There is a phone on the table.” — (m) Famma telifoun fou9 el tawla / فما بطة تعوم في البركة
“There is a little bit of orange juice left.” — (m) Famma chwaya 3asir bordgen fadhla / فما شوية عصير بردڨان فاضلة
As you can see above, Famma… is used in every instance regardless of the gender-designation of the noun.
In the recording below Aroua F. pronounces Famma batta t3oum fel berka / فما بطة تعوم في البركة:
In the recording below Aroua F. pronounces Famma chwaya 3asir bordgen fadhla / فما شوية عصير بردڨان فاضلة:
In the recording below Aroua F. pronounces Famma telifoun fou9 el tawla / فما بطة تعوم في البركة:
(To learn more about Famma / فمّا visit the IBL page: “There is” in Tunisian Arabic)
Plural form nouns
Above is a good primer on singular-form nouns in Tunisian Arabic and how to treat speaking about the nouns in combination with the Tunisian Arabic versions of phrases like It is…, This is…, That is… & There is… When it comes to plural-based nouns (Cars, Trees, Keys, etc.) etymologically, their translations have masculine- or feminine-based roots, however, the specific gender-designation doesn’t influence the construction of statements. The reason is that phrases like These are… & Those are… There are… only have one translation in Tunisian Arabic: Hedhom / هاذم, Hedhoukom / هاذوكم (In Sfaxian subdialect, Hekom / هاكم ) and Famma /فمّا, respectively, unlike most of their singular-form counterparts (covered above) that have two variations.
(To learn more about Hedhom, Hedhoukom and Famma here are the individual IBL pages on these two words: “These are” in Tunisian Arabic, “Those are” in Tunisian Arabic, and “There are…” in Tunisian Arabic)
So continuing with the three examples above, reframed in the plural become: (The word or phrase giving effect to Those are…, These are…, and There are… are underlined)
“These are the keys for the apartment.” — Hedhom mfeta7 el bortmen. / .هاذم مفاتح البرطمان
“Those are trees.” — Hedhoukom chajrat. / .هاذوكم شجرات
“Those are cars.” — Hedhoukom kraheb. / .هاذوكم كراهب
“There are four keys on the keyring.” — Famma arb3a mfeta7 fi el porte clé. / .فما أربعة مفاتح في البورت كلاي
(To deep dive research the use of “Those are” and “These are” in Tunisian Arabic, access the IBL articles: “100 uses of ‘These are’ in Tunisian Arabic”, “100 uses of ‘Those are’ in Tunisian Arabic” and “100 uses of ‘There are’ in Tunisian Arabic)
In the below four recordings, Aroua F. pronounces Hedhom / هاذم, Hedhoukom/ هاذوكم, , and Famma / فما.
Hedhom:
Hedhoukom:
Famma:
Conjugation of nouns
Like fos7a / فصحى, nouns that are used in a possessive context conjugate: Meaning that they their spelling and pronunciation will change based on the pronoun that possesses them.
A dog in Tunisian Arabic is (m) Kalb / كلب and (f) Kalba / كلبة but when one is saying “my dog” the words modify to:
(m) Kalbi / كلبي
(f) Kalbti / كلبتي
The -i / ي- is what puts the noun in the I form.
Here is a full list of pronouns that can possess nouns in Tunisian Arabic:
(My) -i / ي-
(Your / Yours) -k / ك
(Your / Yours, plural) -kom / كم-
(His) -ou / و-
(Her) -ha / ها
(Our / Ours) -na / نا-
(Their / Theirs) -hom / هم-
So combining the dog example above with the preceding conjugation list here is (m) Kalb / كلب and (f) Kalba / كلبة conjugates fully as a noun:
Male dog:
(My) Kalbi / كلبي
(Your / Yours) Kalbk / كلبك
(Your / Yours, plural) Kalbkom / كلبكم
(His) Kalbou / كلبو
(Her) Kalbha / كلبها
(Our / Ours) Kalbna / كلبنا
(Their / Theirs) Kalbhom / كلبهم
Female dog:
(My) Kalbti / كلبتي
(Your / Yours) Kalbtk / كلبتك
(Your / Yours, plural) Kalbtkom / كلبتكم
(His) Kalbtou / كلبتو
(Her) Kalbtha / كلبتها
(Our / Ours) Kalbtna / كلبتنا
(Their / Theirs) Kalbthom / كلبتهم
Here are four examples:
“That is my dog”:
- (m) Hedheka kalbi / هذاكا كلبي
- (f) Hedhika kalbti / هاذيكا كلبتي
“His dog is friendly.”
- (m) Kalbou sympathique / كلبو سمباتيك
- (f) Kalbtou sympathique / كلبتو سمباتيك
“We will watch your dog.”
- (m) Ataw netlhew b kalbek / أتو نتلهاو بكلبك
- (f) Ataw netlhew b kalbtek / أتو نتلهاو بكلبتك
“Those are my dogs.”
- (m) Hedhom klebi / هاذم كلابي
- (f) Hedhom kalbeti / هاذم كلباتي
Spelling trends with nouns
With nouns, determining the singular counterpart of a plural noun or vice versa is more complex and doesn’t have one commonly followed rule like the proverbial -s for plural words in English. With that said, there are some trends and attributes that exist with Tunisian Arabic that can assist in understanding the gender-designation of nouns and whether the way a noun is spelled makes it singular or plural.
Revisiting the -a / ة- suffix
As covered above, the suffix -a / ة- (the Te2 marbouta) is almost always an indication that not only is a noun feminine-based, but that it’s also in the singular form. A common trend, but not the case in every instance, is that the -a / ة- is affixed to a noun in the singular form and the -a is removed when the noun is in the plural. Here are three examples:
- Duck & Ducks — (sing.) Bata / بطة and (pl.) Bat / بط
- Olive & Olives — (sing.) Zitouna / زيتونة and (pl.) Zitoun / زيتون
- Cloud & Clouds — (sing.) S7aba / سحابة and (pl.) S7ab / سحاب
The -et / ات- suffix
When it comes to the plural, again, not in every case, but is always the case when present, the suffix -et / ات- indicates that a noun is in the plural form. Here are three examples:
When it comes to nouns, the -et / ات- is often affixed as a suffix to Tunisian Arabic words with French roots. The concept of -et / ات- isn’t French-derived though. In Tunisian Arabic (and in fos7a), the -et with adjectives conventionally indicate the adjective in the plural feminine form. However, with Tunisian Arabic, when it comes to nouns, this common suffix is designated more to Tunisian Arabic words that come from the French language.
The -i / ي- suffix
Not as commonly as the -et / ات- the suffix -i / ي-, called a Ye2 ياء,, appears on some nouns exclusively in the plural form. Here are three examples:
So the next time you see or hear the the suffix -i / ي- on a noun, you’ll immediately know the noun is in the plural form.
Where the trends stop
The trends and rules listed above can assist in identifying certain nouns quickly. E.g., The next time you see a noun with the suffix -a / ة- you’ll know it’s feminine-based. In many other instances, the only way to know the gender-designation and if a noun is singular or plural is by learning all the nouns that you can!
Here are examples of nouns where there is no clear underlying trend as to their spellings:
- Table & Tables — Tawla / طاولة & Twewel / طواول
- House & Houses — Dar / دار & Diar / ديار
- Puppy & Puppies — Jarw / جرو & Jrew / جراو
Summary
By understanding and applying the material in this article, you can progress substantially in speaking Tunisian Arabic: You’ll now know when to apply Hedha/Hedhi, Hedheka/Hedhika, Hedhoukom, , etc. to nouns in a statement, how nouns conjugate (it may be important to explain to someone what item is yours versus someone else’s), some tips to assist in identifying the gender-designation of nouns, and some additional material to assist in identifying if a noun is in the singular or plural form.
As a next step in learning Tunisian Arabic you may want to dive into understanding how verbs function. Here is an extensive IBL guide with over 5,000 words on the topic, How verbs function in Tunisian Arabic.
As always, we wish you a marvellous journey!
Comments are closed.