How adverbs function in Tunisian Arabic

By IBL Editorial On Sep 29, 2023

This IBL article will explain how adverbs function in Tunisian Arabic.

It’s broken down into these sections:

The basics
How adverbs are used
Adverbs & adjectives
Origins of adverbs
Syntax including position
10 more examples (with recordings)
In closing
Glossary of adverbs

Let’s begin.

The basics

In some ways, for one approaching Tunisian Arabic from an English speaking background or understanding, learning how adverbs function is easier than learning how adjectives function.

Unlike adjectives in Tunisian Arabic, which almost always have three variant spellings to consider (i.e., singular masculine, singular feminine & plural), all adverbs, like in Standard Arabic (fos7a / الفصحى), have only one spelling / variation.

(To learn more about adjectives, read the IBL guide, How adjectives function in Tunisian Arabic)

Let’s get into some examples:

Quickly:

In Tunisian Arabic, “Quickly” is Fisa3 / فيسع

One may say or write “I’m going to quickly go to the store” as, Bech nemchi fisa3 lel 7anout / باش نمشي فيسع للحانوت

IBL contributor, Firas J., pronounces Fisa3:

Slowly:

In Tunisian Arabic, “Slowly” is Bechwaya / بشويّة

“Can you walk more slowly?” is written as, Tnajem temchi bechwaya? / تنجّم تمشي بشويّة؟

IBL contributor, Linda A., pronounces Bechwaya:

Loudly:

In Tunisian Arabic, “Loudly” is Bel9wey / بالقوي

If someone doesn’t hear you at the front door, you may say to your companion, “I will knock loudly” as Ataw ndo9 bel9wey / أتو ندقّ بالقوي

IBL contributor, Aroua F. pronounces Bel9wey:

You will see in the cases above that the adverb followed the verb. Unlike English which can have the adverb precede the verb (e.g., “They cheerfully danced.”), in Tunisian Arabic, the adverb always follows the verb.

And in all the cases above (again, unlike the vast majority of adjectives in Tounsi) you can see how there is only one variant of the adverb. In other words, there is no other way or need to spell fisa3 / فيسع, bechwaya / بشويّة, or bel9wey / بالقوي.

How adverbs are used

By their nature, adverbs are used to describe an action. However, what’s also very common in Tunisian Arabic is for an action to be described through an effect of verb + verb with no adverb present. Overall, it’s been observed that using verb + verb to intensify or describe a verb is more commonly performed than in English.

For instance, in Tunisian Arabic, “Intelligently” is reasonably translated as B dkhe / بذكا. It may be said in English:

“You speak intelligently”
“She presented the data intelligently”
Etc.

However, in Tunisian Arabic, depending on the situation B dkhe / بذكا may not be the conventional term used. Often, but not exclusively, when describing someone’s action as intelligent, a verb + verb is used.

Here are three examples of this verb + verb in effect.

Example #1:

“You speak intelligently:”

Ta3ref ta7ki / تعرف تحكي

Ta3ref means “You know” and ta7ki means “You speak”. So putting the phrases together has the effect of saying, “You speak intelligently”

Aroua F. says Ta3ref ta7ki:

Example #2:

“We ran quickly.” is conventionally spoken as Mchina nejriw / مشينا نجريو

Mchina means “We went” and nejriw means “We run“. In this case, conventionally, Nejriw is used instead of an adverb like Fisa3 / فيسع.

Example #3:

“He swims well.” is conventionally spoken as Ya3ref y3oum / ينعرف يعوم

Ya3ref means “He knows” and y3oum means “He swims“.

Use of b / ب

A way that many adverbs are constructed in Tunisian Arabic is by taking an adjective and including the word b / ب, which means “with” in front of it.

Loud, the adjective, in Tunisian Arabic is (m) 3ali / عالي (f) 3alya / عالية, and “sound” is sout / صوت. By someone combining these two words as a term and including b / ب in front, making it (m) B sout 3ali / بصوت عالي (f) B sout 3ali / بصوت عالية, the expression has the reasonable translation in English of of the adverb, Loudly.

Adverbs & adjectives

Like in English, some adverbs can also be used as adjectives. As you know, in English you can say “That car is fast” (used as an adjective) or you say “That car is going fast” (used as an adverb). In both cases, the word “fast” can be used. This same effect occurs with some adverbs and adjectives in Tunisian Arabic.

Example #1 — Fisa3 / فيسع:

Adjective form — “That is a fast car” is translated as El karhba hedhika temchi fisa3 / الكرهبة هاذيكا تمشي فيسع

Adverb form — “That car is going fast” — El karhba hedhika temchi fisa3 / الكرهبة هاذيكا تمشي فيسع

As you may have noticed, in the above example, the same statement can have different meanings and uses. People in the conversation, based on the context, will know what is being communicated.

Aroua F. pronounces El karhba hedhika temchi fisa3:

Example #2 — Bechwaya / بشويّة:

Adjective form — “He’s an early riser.” is translated as Howa y9oum bekri / هو يقوم بكري

Adverb form — “It’s still early.” is translated as Mazel bekri / مازال بكري

Aroua F. says Howa y9oum bekri & Mazel bekri:

Example #3 — Makher / مخّر:

Adjective form — “I’m late for class.” is translated as Wselt makher lel classe / وصلت مخر للكلاس

Adverb form — “The books were returned two days late.” is translated as El ktob raj3ou makher b nharin / الكتب رجعو مخّر بنهاربن

Aroua F. speaks Wselt makher lel classe & El ktob raj3ou makher b nharin:

But to confirm, for certainty, just like in English, not all adverbs can take an adjective form.

Origins of adverbs

The Ithaca Bound Languages project has now documented instances of Tunisian Arabic adverbs that etymologically come from Standard Arabic (fos7a / الفصحى), from French, and in other instances, adverbs that have the similarity of conventional Arabic words, but that don’t come from fos7a.

Here are three Tunisian Arabic adverbs that comes from fos7a:

Dima / ديما, which means “always” (from De2iman / دائما)
3la 9rib / على قريب, which means “soon” (from 9ariban / قريبا)
Mazel / مازال, which means “still” (from Ma zela / ما زال)

Here are three Tunisian Arabic adverbs that’s origins are French: (Same spellings in French)

Normalement / نورمالمون, which means “probably“
Finalement / فينالمون, which means “finally”
Pratiquement / براتيكمون, which means “practically”

And here are three Tounsi adverbs that are believed to be derived from neither fos7a or French:

Fisa3 / فيسع, which means “fast” or “quickly”
Bechwaya / بشويّة, which means “slow” or “slowly”
Bghoch / بغش, which means “angrily”

Syntax including position

Because an adverb describes a verb, it should be in reasonable proximity to the action or actions that it is describing.

As mentioned l, in Tunisian Arabic, an adverb always follows above an adverb always immediately follows the verb that it is intensifying or describing.

Example #1:

In a section above, “I’m going to quickly go to the store” was provided.

In Tounsi, the above statement is translated as, Bech nemchi fisa3 lel 7anout. / .باش نمشي فيسع للحانوت

In English, one can change the structure of this sentence but the meaning can stay in tact: “I’m going to go to the store quickly.” In Tounsi this will become: Bech nemchi lel 7anout fisa3. / .باش نمشي للحانوت فيسع

Example #2:

“The kids are dancing cheerfully” and “The kids are cheerfully dancing” are both translated as: El sghar yacht7ou far7anin / الصغار يشطحو فرحانين (Note that in either case the adverb followed the verb)

Example #3:

“We arrived well yesterday.”

Wselna labes lbera7 / وصلنا لاباس لبارح

10 more examples (with recordings)

Here are 10 more examples of adverbs in statements with accompanying recordings that you can study & learn:

“Consecutively” — Wra b3adhhom / ورا بعضهم

“I had three meetings consecutively” — Klit tletha marat wra b3adhhom / كليت تلاثة مرّات ورا بعضهم

“Quietly” — Bechwaya / بشويّة

“Kids, speak quietly” — Ya sghar a7kiw bechwaya / يا صغار أحكيو بشويّة

“Forcefully” — Bel9wey / بالقوي

“He forcefully closed the car door” — Howa saker beb el karhba bel9wey / هو سكّر باب الكرهبة بالقوي

“Quickly” — fisa3 / فيسع

“They quickly ran to class” — Mchew yejriw fisa3 lel classe / مشاو يجريو فيسع للكلاس

“Patiently” — No common single word

“She patiently waited for her sister to finish the appointment” — Stanet okhtha tkamel el rendez-vous mte3ha / ستنّات أختها تكمّل الروندافو متاعه

(There is no word in Tunisian Arabic that is akin to “patiently”. In this statement, the translation is effectively that the woman waited for her sister to finish the appointment. The adverb “patiently” doesn’t conventionally exist in Tounsi.)

“Impatiently” — No common single word

“The kids sat there impatiently” — El sghar b9aw 9a3din ghadi feddin / الصغار بقاو قاعدين غادي فادّين

(In the above translation, feddin / فادّين, which in English means “bored” is the most reasonable and relevant word to use to get this meaning across in Tunisian Arabic.)

“Loudly” — Bel9wey / بالقوي

“Someone is knocking loudly” — Fama chkoun ydo9 fel beb bel9wey / فمّا شكون يدق في الباب بالقوي

“Slowly” — Bechwaya / بشويّة

“I eat slowly” — Nekel bechwaya / ناكل بشويّة

“Still” — Mazel / مازال

“The movie is still going” — El film mazel makmelch / الفيلم مازال مكملش

“Finally” — Finalement / فينالمون

“We finally arrived!” — Wselna finalement! / !وصلنا فينالمون

In closing

Knowing adverbs and how they fit into statements and sentences will enrich your ability to speak Tunisian Arabic. Knowing adverbs allows a speaker to go beyond ordering a coffee, greetings, & farewells, and enters the world of beginning to describing more specifically the world around us. Here are some other related IBL articles and guides that will assist you on your journey to learning Tunisian Arabic:

How nouns function in Tunisian Arabic

Guide: How verbs function in Tunisian Arabic

Guide: How adjectives function in Tunisian Arabic (also cited above)

As always, we wish you a marvellous journey!

Glossary of adverbs

Below we’ve listed a glossary of some of the adverb that are on the Ithaca Bound Languages platform. On these pages are accompanying recordings along with five translated statements each.

Always

Angrily

Better

Best

Carefully

Cheerfully

Earliest

Excellently