A study: “What” in Tunisian Arabic
Conventionally, in Tunisian Arabic, “What” is spelled as Chnowa / شنوا. (Some Tunisians spell it using the Latin script as Chnoua) In Standard Arabic (Fos7a / فصحى) What is ماذا / Medha.
An alternative word for “What” is Chneya / شنيا. Both Chnowa / شنوا and Chneya / شنيا are interchangeable and widely used by most Tunisian Arabic speakers. As one IBL contributor suggested, she tends to use Chnowa when asking a direct question—E.g., If one didn’t hear what a friend said, the response may be Chnowa?, whereas, she uses Chneya…? more as part of statements. But there doesn’t appear to be any rules or consensus amongst Tunisian Arabic speakers between the two, and as mentioned, are widely interchangeable.
One additional alternative word for What is Chbi-? / شبي-؟ (the suffix is based on the subject that the word is address to—A full listing of subjects with associated suffixes are below) Ch-? / ش- ؟ is a condensed version of Chnowa and b is the preposition “with”. This word, Chbi-? / شبي-؟, is often used in response to someone in an imperative way. For example if a neighbour is yelling from the street to get another neighbour’s attention, the neighbour is more likely to respond with Chbik? (the -k? / ك-؟ puts the word in the You form) versus Chnowa?
Gender- & plural-based
Conventionally, Chnowa can be used regardless of the gender designation of the noun its associated to or whether it’s used in a singular or plural setting. If a speakers wishes to add greater specificity, they may, but it’s not required, use the word Chnouma / شنوما. Whereas, Chnowa can be used in a singular or plural setting, Chnouma is only used in a plural setting. (For more information on the gender-designation of nouns in Tunisian Arabic reference the IBL article: How nouns function in Tunisian Arabic)
For example the statement: “What are all these things?” can be translated as either:
Chnowa l7ajet hedhom lkol? / شنوا الحاجات هاذم الكل؟
or
Chnouma el 7ajet hedhom kol? / شنوما الحاجات هاذم الكل؟
IBL Contributor, Aroua F. pronounces Chnowa:
Aroua F. pronounces Chneya:
Aroua F. pronounces Chnouma:
Sub-dialects of Tunisian Arabic
In different regions of Tunisia the word to represent “What” may vary. For instance, what’s most common in the Sfaxian region (Sfax is a coastal city that is centre-east and is Tunisia’s second largest urban centre) is Chnou / شنو.
IBL Contributor, Nada A. (who grew up in Sfax), pronounces Chnou:
Three basic statement examples
Below are three basic examples of Chnowa / شنوا in statements.
- (masculine-based object) Chnowa hedheka? / شنوا هذاكا؟
- (feminine-based object) Chnowa hedhika? / شنوّا هاذيكا؟
What is this?
- Chnowa hedha? / شنوا هاذا؟ & Chnowa hedhi? شنوا هاذي؟
What are those?
- Hedhom chnowa? / هاذم شنوا؟
That is what he said.
- Hedheka chnowa 9al. / .هذاكا شنوا قال (This statement can also be Hedheka ch9al. /.هذاكا شقال—See Compounding section below.)
Compounding
Chnowa is a common Tunisian Arabic word that compounds frequently. (Merging the word with another word to produce a new word)
Here are three examples of English statements that when translated can either use Chnowa by itself or compound:
Normal — Chnowa esmek? / شنوا اسمك؟
Compound — Chesmek? / شاسمك؟
In the above example Chnowa / شنوا (“What”) and Esmek / اسمك (“your name”) combined to produce the compound word Chesmek? / شاسمك؟.
Once you know what you want to do, tell me.
Normal — Wa9t ta3ref chnowa t7eb ta3mel, 9oli. / .وقت تعرف شنوا تحب تعمل, قلّي
Compound — Wa9t ta3ref cht7eb ta3mel, 9oli. / .وقت تعرف شتحب تعمل, قلّي
Above, t7eb / تحب has the effect of “you want”. Combining “chnowa t7eb” as “cht7eb” has the effect of “what you want”.
Normal — Chnowa sar? / شنوا صار؟
Compound — Chsar? / شصار؟
Sar / صار means “happened” in the past tense, in the masculine form. (See the IBL page “Happened” (past) in Tunisian Arabic)
A point about thinking
In English, it’s common to associate the word “What” to the process of thinking:
- What are you thinking about?
- This is what he is thinking.
- Etc.
In Tunisian Arabic, if the statement is about the process of thinking instead of what is being thought then usually the word associated to the process is Kifech / كيفاش (How) versus Chnowa (What).
So for instance, the statement “This is what he is thinking.” is translated as:
- Hedha kifech howa ykhamem. / .هذا كيفاش هو يخمّم
A direct translation for this is:
Hedha = “This is”
Kifech = “How”
Howa = “He”
Ykhamem = “Thinking” (in the masculine form)
Alternatively though, if the statement becomes “What are you thinking?” it’s most commonly:
- (m) Fech 9a3ed tkhamem? / فاش فاعد تخمّم؟
- (f) Fech 9a3eda tkhamem? / فاش فاعدة تخمّم؟
This statement has the effect of:
Fech = A combination of Fi / فا (a preposition (like [thinking] “of” or “about”) and Chnowa which is represented as Ch / ش. (again, condensed)
9a3ed / 9a3eda = This word has the direct translation in English of “Sitting” and is conventionally used to represent verbs in the present continuous. (i.e., the action is happening right now)
Tkhamem = “Thinking” (in the You form)
With that said, less commonly, but still accurately, one could apply Chnowa to express this question:
- (m) F chnowa 9a3ed tkhamem? / في شنوا قاعد تخمّم؟
- (f) F chnowa 9a3da tkhamem? / في شنوا قاعدة تخمّم؟
In this case the F is a condensed version of Fi and again acts as as a preposition. (Giving the effect of thinking “of” or “about”)
In closing
The word What (and its translations in other languages) is a staple word to know and understand. By studying this material you’ll understand what the word is in Tunisian Arabic, how it varies by region, its use and pronunciation in statements, and its compounding attribute. If you enjoyed this IBL article in our Study series, there is also the IBL Study articles: A study: “No” in Tunisian Arabic and A study: “Not” in Tunisian Arabic. Alternatively if you want to consume and learn a lot of basic Tunisian Arabic phrases quickly, there is the large IBL article: 100 two- and three- word statements in Tunisian Arabic which includes spellings (both scripts) and recordings / pronunciations.
As always, we wish you a marvellous journey!
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