Time in Tunisian Arabic

By IBL Editorial On Jan 21, 2024

In this article we’ll cover an overview of how time is spoken & written about in Tunisian Arabic and how it’s used in the country of Tunisia.

In Tunisian Arabic, “time” is Wa9t / وقت. “What time is it?” is 9adech el wa9t? / قدّاش الوقت؟. And to refer to what time it is now as in “The time is…” is simply Tawa … / …توّا. (Tawa also means Now)

IBL Contributor, Aroua F., pronounces Wa9t, 9adech el wa9t? & Tawa:

24-hour & 12-hour references

Conventionally, when writing the time numerically (Cardinal numbers) Tunisians write using the 24-hour system. (8am is 8h and 1pm is 13h) However, if writing the time alphabetically they will use the 12-hour system and refer to period of the day usually only if they feel it’s necessary. (Like in English, if the time of the day is implied, often it’s not communicated. In English, if Breakfast is at 9am, many will omit the “am” when communicating the time)

Here are the standard periods of a day in Tunisian Arabic:

Morning = Sbe7 / صباح
Afternoon = 9ayla / قايلة
Evening (Starting at 4pm or 5pm) = 3cheya / عشيّة
Night (Starting at 8pm) = Lil / ليل

IBL Contributor, Aroua F., pronounces Sbe7, 9ayla, 3cheya, & Lil:

What follows is the full list of referring to each hour of the day alphabetically:

Midnight = Nos elil / نص الليل
1am = Madhi se3a mta3 esbe7/ ماضي ساعة متاع الصباح
2am = Madhi se3tin mta3 esbe7 / ماضي ساعتين متاع الصباح
3am = Madhi tletha mta3 esbe7 / ماضي تلاثة متاع الصباح
4am = Larb3a mta3 esbe7 / الأربعة متاع الصباح
5am = Lkhamsa mta3 esbe7 / الخمسة متاع الصباح
6am = Eseta mta3 esbe7 / الستة متاع الصباح
7am = Esab3a mta3 esbe7 / السبعة متاع الصباح
8am = Ethmanya mta3 esbe7 / الثمنية متاع الصباح
9am = Etes3a mta3 esbe7 / التسعة متاع الصباح
10am =L3achra mta3 esbe7 / العشرة متاع الصباح
11am = La7dech mta3 esbe7 / الحداش متاع الصباح
12pm (Noon) = Nos nhar / نص نهار
1pm = Madhi se3a mta3 l9ayla / ماضي ساعة متاع القايلة
2pm = Madhi se3tin mta3 l9ayla / ماضي ساعتين متاع القايلة
3pm = Madhi tletha mta3 l9ayla / ماضي تلاثة متاع القايلة
4pm = Larb3a mta3 la3cheya / الأربعة متاع العشيّة
5pm = Lkhamsa mta3 la3cheya / الخمسة متاع العشيّة
6pm = Eseta mta3 la3cheya / الستة متاع العشيّة
7pm = Esab3a mta3 la3cheya / السبعة متاع العشيّة
8pm = Ethmanya mta3 elil / الثمنية متاع الليل
9pm = Etes3a mta3 elil / التسعة متاع الليل
10pm = L3achra mta3 elil / العشرة متاع الليل
11pm = La7dech mta3 elil / الحداش متاع الليل

Some notes about the list above:

Nos / نص literally means Half.
Se3a / ساعة means Hour.
Although we used am/pm above, remember that conventionally when writing time numerically (not alphabetically), Tunisians are conventionally taught and tend to write the time using the 24-hour model.
Mta3 / متاع means “of”. So above what’s essentially being communicated is the time of a particular period of the day. (E.g., “of” the afternoon, “of” the evening, etc.)
Madhi / ماضي means Past. In Madhi se3a mta3 l9ayla, for instance, what’s being communicated is effectively (using the essence of past), “One hour into the afternoon”. Madhi se3tin mta3 l9ayla in English is “Two hours into the afternoon.” A note that the word Madhi / ماضي comes from Standard Arabic (Fos7a / فصحى) and in Tunisian Arabic is also used in a future, present, past sense too.

Minutes in Tunisian Arabic

In Tunisian Arabic, in general, a minute is D9i9a / دقيقة and minutes is D9aye9 / دقايق. However, like all numbers, Derja Tounsiya follows this Standard Arabic method:

1 minute = D9i9a / دقيقة
2 minutes = D9i9tin / دقيقتين
3-10 minutes = D9aye9 / دقايق
11 minutes and more = D9i9a / دقيقة

Aroua F. pronounces D9i9a, D9i9tin & D9aye9:

So:

2 minutes is D9i9tin / دقيقتين
7 minutes is Sab3a d9aye9 / سبعة دقايق
17 minutes is Sba3tach d9i9a / سبعطاش دقيقة

Aroua pronounces D9i9tin, Sab3a d9aye9, & Sba3tach d9i9a:

When it comes to increments here is a list of minutes in Tunisian Arabic:

5 minutes = Draj / درج
10 minutes = Darjin / درجين
15 minutes = Rbo3 se3a / ربع ساعة
20 minutes = Arb3a adraj / أربعة أدراج
25 minutes = Khamsa adraj / خمسة أدراج
30 minutes = Nos se3a / نص ساعة
35 minutes = Sab3a adraj / سبعة أدراج
40 minutes = Se3a ghir arb3a / ساعة غير أربعة
45 minutes = Se3a ghir rbo3 / ساعة غير ربع
50 minutes = Khamsin d9i9a / خمسين دقيقة
55 minutes = Khamsa w khamsin d9i9a / خمسة و خمسين دقيقة

Some notes about the above:

Draj / درج is a Tunisian Arabic word that in the context of time means 5.
Darjin / درجين means two (2) Draj, so in other words, 10. (10 minutes)
When 15 minutes is part of a time (e.g., 7:15am, 1:15pm, etc.) Se3a / ساعة is implied and never used.
At 20 minutes, the word Adraj / أربعة is introduced. It’s based on the word Draj / درج, and so what begins to happen is the preceding number indicates the increment of Draj (5). For example, Arb3a adraj is communicating 4 x 5 minutes, so 20 minutes.
Adraj / أدراج is present in functionality but becomes silent at 35 minutes (Sab3a adraj / سبعة أدراج) and after. For instance, in Sab3a adraj, what is happening is Sab3a means 7 and Adraj means 5. Multiplied together this is 35.
Ghir / غير means “less” (A side note that this word is based on the Fos7a word Ghayr / غير and is more cognate with the English word “Not”. (Not in Tunisian Arabic is more conventionally Mouch / موش). So what is beginning to happen at 40 minutes is that the rounded hour is expressed less a certain amount of time. So for instance, Se3a ghir arb3a is communicating essentially, “1 hour less 4 adraj (or 20 minutes). So this becomes 40 minutes.

(Regarding the last point, IBL wrote an entire article that analyzes the expression of Not in Tunisian Arabic. You can access it at: A study: “Not” in Tunisian Arabic)

As an example here is the above denominations applied to the hour of 8. (the period of day isn’t included in these examples)

8:05 = Ethmanya w draj / الثمنية و درج

8:10 = Ethmanya w darjin / الثمنية و درجين

8:15 = Ethmanya w rbo3 / الثمنية و ربع

8:20 = Ethmanya w arb3a / الثمنية و أربعة (As you may know, Arb3a / أربعة means Four. This statement is essentially saying 4 x Drej (5), which is 20. If one wishes to express 8:04, it’s Ethmanya w arb3a d9aye9 / الثمنية و أربعة دقايق.)

8:25 = Ethmanya w khamsa / الثمنية و خمسة

8:30 = Ethmanya w nos / الثمنية و نص

8:35 = Ethmanya w sab3a / الثمنية و سبعة

8:40 = Etes3a ghir arb3a / التسعة غير أربعة

8:45 = Etes3a ghir rbo3 / التسعة غير ريع

Seconds in Tunisian Arabic

In Tunisian Arabic a second is Thenya / ثانية, two seconds is Theniytin / ثانيتين, and seconds, in a general sense, is Thaweni / ثواني. But again, like Minutes, and in the conventional format for how Arabic handles numbers, here is when and how to use the foregoing:

1 second = Thenya / ثانية
2 seconds = Theniytin / ثانيتين
3-10 seconds = Thaweni / ثواني
11 seconds and more = Thenya / ثانية

Aroua F. pronounces Thenya, Theniytin & Thaweni:

Some examples include:

8 seconds = Thmanya thaweni / ثمنية ثواني

19 seconds = Tsa3tach thenya / تسعطاش ثانية

60 seconds = Setin thenya / ستين ثانية

Here are three examples of seconds in use in statements:

“There are 8 seconds left in the exam.” — El devoir mazel fih thmanya thaweni. / .الدفوار مازال فيه ثمنية ثواني

“Your food will be ready in 30 seconds.” — El mekla bech tkoun 7adhra fi tlethin thenya. / .الماكلة باش تكون حاضرة في تلاثين ثانية

“There are 60 seconds in a minute.” — Fama setin thenya fel d9i9a. / .فما ستين ثانية في الدقيقة

Five final examples

Here are five examples of times with these increments in statements:

“It’s 9:15am” = Tawa etes3a w rbo3 (mta3 sbe7). / .(توّا التسعة و ربع (متاع الصباح

Tawa etes3a w rbo3 & Tawa etes3a w rbo3 mta3 sbe7:

“The meeting is at 10:30am today.” = El ejtime3 m3a l3achra w nos (mta3 esbe7) lyoum. / .الاجتماع مع العشرة و نص متاع الصباح اليوم

El ejtime3 m3a l3achra w nos lyoum:

“The movie starts at 8:45pm tonight.” = El film yabda m3a etes3a ghir rbo3 mta3 elil. / .الفيلم يبدى مع التسعة غير ربع متاع الليل

El film yabda m3a etes3a ghir rbo3 mta3 elil:

“We arrived at 2:40pm” = Wselna m3a madhi tletha ghir arb3a (mta3 l9ayla). / .وصلنا مع ماضي ساعة غير أربعة متاع القايلة

Wselna m3a madhi tletha ghir arb3a:

“I’m off work at 3:45pm today.” = Nokhrej mel khedma m3a larb3a ghir rbo3 el youm. / .نخرج من الخدمة مع الأربعة غير ربع اليوم

Nokhrej mel khedma m3a larb3a ghir rbo3 el youm:

In closing

Learning how to read and refer to time will deepen your understanding and ability to communicate in Tounsi. As next reading material you may want to study and learn how to count to 100 in Tunisian Arabic. For this access the IBL list: Tunisian Arabic – Counting to 100. There is also the IBL article Understanding Tunisian Money in Tunisian Arabic. And if you want to start building your linguistic foundation of Tunisian Arabic by learning the alphabet that Tunisian Arabic speakers use (both Latin & Arabic scripts), there is the IBL article: The letter “A” in Tunisian Arabic.

As always, we wish you a marvellous journey!