# All dialects: to cut



## tounsi51

Dear forum members 

I was curious to know what is the share of use between قص and قطع among your dialects to mean "to cut"

In Tunisia it's 100% قص and قطع means "to tear" or "to tear out" (paper, clothes...). 

power cut= الضو قص
cut the nails= قص
cut a body part= قص
the phone line cut= التلفون قص


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## momai

Syrian:
power cut= انقطعت الكهربا
cut the nails= قص
cut a body part= قص أو قطع
the phone line cut= انقطع الخط


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## analeeh

In some areas of Syria at least, _2aTa3_ is used for the powercut meaning. I have no idea whether it can be used for stuff that isn't electricity.

Incidentally, 'powercut' in English is the noun, not the verb (we say 'the power went out' or 'there was a powercut').


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## elroy

momai said:


> power cut= انقطعت الكهربا
> cut the nails= قص
> the phone line cut= انقطع الخط


 These are the same in Palestinian Arabic.

As for "cut a body part," do you mean "cut" as in "I was chopping onions and cut my finger"?  That would be جرحت أصبعي or أصبعي انجرح  .قطع would be used in the sense of "amputate," which is "cut *off* a body part" in English.  I can't think of a context in which قص would be used with a body part other than hair or nails.  Momai, what contexts were you thinking of?


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## tounsi51

Thanks for your replies.

Those who use قطع for cut, how do you say "to tear"

What about Egyptian?


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## elroy

"To tear" in Palestinian Arabic is مزع.


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## tounsi51

So you would say 

مزع الورقة؟


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## elroy

Yes.


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## tounsi51

thanks elroy

all,

please also mention which verb do you use for cutting fruits and vegetables


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## elroy

For fruits and vegetables: قطّع/فرم/فرّم in Palestinian Arabic depending on the context and the manner of cutting - but definitely not قص


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## tounsi51

Thanks.

I find weird this Tunisian exception of using قص for everything


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## momai

elroy said:


> Momai, what contexts were you thinking of?


For example: If someone is completely sure that something won't happen he would say بقص ايدي اذا كذا أو كذا
or if a mother gets angry because of something bad her son said she also might say something like the following:
لسانك بدي قصو


tounsi51 said:


> Those who use قطع for cut, how do you say "to tear"


For tearing ,we use mainly _shaqq شق_.
For fruits and vegetables:قطّع ,فرم, ترم


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## elroy

momai said:


> بقص ايدي اذا كذا أو كذا
> لسانك بدي قصو


 Yes, but these are fixed expressions; they're not about literal cutting. 





> For tearing ,we use mainly _shaqq شق_ about it all depends on the sitiuation.


 You don't use مزع?


> For fruits and vegetables:قطّع ,فرم, ترم


 Is ترم the same as فرم?


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## tounsi51

momai said:


> For tearing ,we use mainly _shaqq شق_.
> For fruits and vegetables:قطّع ,فرم, ترم



Thanks.

For us _shaqq _means to slit  (in surgery), or to cross a road out of the pedestrian crossing


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## momai

elroy said:


> Yes, but these are fixed expressions; they're not about literal cutting.


Yes,but this could mean that they were used in the past for cutting body parts.


> You don't use مزع?


No, I don't use it myself.The verb looks somehow familiar to me,though.


> Is ترم the same as فرم?


No, they are used for different things e.g.اللحمة بتنفرم والبقدونس بينترم


tounsi51 said:


> or to cross a road out of the pedestrian crossing


We use _qaTa3 _for this.


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## elroy

momai said:


> No, I don't use it myself.The verb looks somehow familiar to me,though.


Well, it's مزق in MSA so... 


> اللحمة بتنفرم والبقدونس بينترم


إحنا التنين بنفرموا.  أول مرة بسمع كلمة ترم 





> We use _qaTa3 _for this.


 So do we.  We don't really use the verb شق in Palestinian Arabic.  (We do have شقف/شقّف for "cut/cut off/cut into pieces."  Maybe those come from شق?)


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## Hemza

In Morocco, we use قطع for everything (even to cross the road  ) except قص in some cases. قص is also used with an odd meaning: "to touch" but with the intention to hurt the person.


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## tounsi51

Hemza said:


> except قص in some cases. قص is also used with an odd meaning: "to touch" but with the intention to hurt the person.



This verb is also used in Algiers but you confused with قاس.


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## Hemza

tounsi51 said:


> This verb is also used in Algiers but you confused with قاس.



Oh yes, now you say it, I was wrong, it's قاس


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## tounsi51

Any contribution from Lebanon, Egypt, Algeria or Gulf countries?

What is the difference in fus7a between قص and قطع


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## cherine

tounsi51 said:


> I was curious to know what is the share of use between قص and قطع among your dialects to mean "to cut"


The verb قص is mostly used with things we cut with scisors, like قص الورق or the expression قص ولزق patchwork/cut and paste.


> power cut= الضو قص
> cut the nails= قص
> cut a body part= قص
> the phone line cut= التلفون قص


Power cut = النور قاطع/مقطوع or الكهرباء قاطعة/مقطوعة but also الكهرباء رايحة (is gone  ).
Cut the nails= قص الضوافر (never قطع)
Cut a body part: If it's about amputation, we use بَتْر and قَطع, if it's hair and nails it's قص but for hair we also use حَلَق especially if it's about shaving it short not just styling it, so it's only used by men.
The phone line cut= التليفون قاطع/مقطوع and also التليفون فاصِل



tounsi51 said:


> Those who use قطع for cut, how do you say "to tear"
> What about Egyptian?


We have قَطَّع and قَطَع.


elroy said:


> "To tear" in Palestinian Arabic is مزع.


This verb is used for dislocate كتفه اِتْمَزَع (and also اِتْخَلَع). I don't know if there are Egyptians who use it for "to tear", but I wouldn't be surprised if it's the case.



tounsi51 said:


> please also mention which verb do you use for cutting fruits and vegetables


قَطّع is the verb used for cutting into pieces قَطَّع الخضار، قَطّع البطيخ
For mincing, we use فَرَم so فَرَم البقدونس، فرم اللحمة



momai said:


> For example: If someone is completely sure that something won't happen he would say بقص ايدي اذا كذا أو كذا
> or if a mother gets angry because of something bad her son said she also might say something like the following:
> لسانك بدي قصو
> For tearing ,we use mainly _shaqq شق_.


Here we say بَقْطَع دِراعي لو حصل كذا، اقطع/يِنْقطع لساني لو قلت في حَقَّك حاجة وِحشة
I think I've heard لسانه عايز قَصُّه/القَصّ but I'm not sure
People from rural areas would us the verb 7ashsh لسانه عايز حَشُّه/يِتْحَشّ same verb for scythe or cutting herbs/grass with a scythe or sickle.
The verb شَق is used to express making a slit, split, crack شق هدومه، شق البطيخة نُصِّين


tounsi51 said:


> For us _shaqq _means to slit  (in surgery), or to cross a road out of the pedestrian crossing


A surgeon فتح بطن المريض , using شق here would bring scary/scarier image of a forceful opening/slit being made. But there are people who use it.
Crossing out of ... what?  Pedestrian crossing is a rare thing in Egypt, and the few existing ones are seldom used anyway, so we don't have a particular word for this "grave infraction". 


elroy said:


> إحنا التنين بنفرموا.  أول مرة بسمع كلمة ترم


وأنا كمان  For us as well, الاتنين بيتفرموا.


> We do have شقف/شقّف for "cut/cut off/cut into pieces."


We don't have the verb شقف but we have the word شَقْفة for piece. Not a very common word though.


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## I.K.S.

cherine said:


> We don't have the verb شقف but we have the word شَقْفة for piece. Not a very common word though.


very interesting ,we use it all the time for the piece of coin and sometimes for other objects that has flat surface like TV and mobile phone.


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## tounsi51

Thanks Cherine for your reply


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## cherine

إتحادية قبائل الشاوية said:


> very interesting ,we use it all the time for the piece of coin and sometimes for other objects that has flat surface like TV and mobile phone.


I only learned it a few years ago when I finally learned the meaning of a place in Alexandria كوم الشُقافة: because there were s go many شَقفات فخار pieces of clay/porcelain from older times, I think mostly Ptolemaic. Other than this example, I can't think of other usages of the term sha2fa.
By the way, a piece of melon is called sha22et baTTiikh شقة بطيخ 


tounsi51 said:


> Thanks Cherine for your reply


You're most welcome. Thank _you_ for the interesting thread. I learned a lot here.


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## elroy

tounsi51 said:


> to cross a road out of the pedestrian crossing


 I just realized I misread this.  In Palestinian Arabic قطع الشارع is just "cross the street" in general.  I don't know if we have a specific verb for "jaywalk."  Momai, if you use قطع الشارع for "jaywalk" what do you use for "cross the street" in general?

The verb شقف/شقّف is very common in Palestinian Arabic, as is the noun شقفة.  شقفة also means "hunk" as in a sexy guy but it can also be used for girls.


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## tounsi51

I just noticed by repeating myself the word many times that شقف is used in Tunisia for the bottle of coca or fanta or whatever, made in glass not plastic


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## momai

elroy said:


> I just realized I misread this.  In Palestinian Arabic قطع الشارع is just "cross the street" in general.  I don't know if we have a specific verb for "jaywalk."  Momai, if you use قطع الشارع for "jaywalk" what do you use for "cross the street" in general?


As in Egypt, in Syria "jaywalk" is the norm. We use _qaTa3_ pretty much for everything.


> The verb شقف/شقّف is very common in Palestinian Arabic, as is the noun شقفة.  شقفة also means "hunk" as in a sexy guy but it can also be used for girls.


Samething in Syria.


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## Zoghbi

In Algeria (at least in my region), we have the same than in Morroco, so قطع or  قطّع is used for "cut".
"to tear" can be "sherreg" شرّق.


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## ahmar

Maltese:

To cut = taqta ex: taqta l-basal (to cut the onions)

To tear = iċċarrat ex: iċċarrat il-karta (tear the paper)

To split = taqsam


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## I.K.S.

^
I can notice a kind of similarity to the Moroccan dialect here.
cutting = taqta3
splitting = taqsam


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## Hemza

إتحادية قبائل الشاوية said:


> splitting = taqsam


 
Oh exactly, I forgot about this one while my mum often use it!


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