# Darija: what time



## Leila.

Salam 3leikum.

When I say 'what time' in darija I always use 'mayash' but yesterday I heard the word 'mahash' in that context. Is this a regional usage? 

Shukran bzzaf.


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## fenakhay

It is either *m3āsh* or *m3āyāsh *in Morocco.


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## al-Moroccan

وعليكِ السَّلام.
They are both used. معاش _m‘aš _is composed of معَ _m‘a_ (meaning _with_, _at the same time as_) and أَشْ _’aš_ (meaning _what_). In the variant you're familiar with, معَيَاش _m‘ayaš_, there is an added ي that prevents a hiatus, that is the pronunciation of two consecutive vowels (_m‘a ’aš → m‘aaš → m‘a*y*aš_). It is a euphonic strategy found in Arabic. Ce phénomène existe aussi en français, même beaucoup ; c'est comme lorsque l'on ajoute un _t_ entre _a_ et _il _dans _A-t-il compris ?_ (Tu préférerais cette transcription je pense : _mɛa-y-ach_.) Hiatus was avoided in the first variant by combining the two vowels into one, while an extra consonant was added in the second variant.
لا شُكْرَ على واجِب.


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## fenakhay

It is pronounced with an *ā *not *a*.


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## elroy

So "what time" is literally "with what" in Moroccan?


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## fenakhay

Kinda but that's because we say "جيت مع الخمسة" (I came at 5). So the question would be مع آش which is pronounced معاش or معاياش.


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## elroy

That's interesting!  I don't know of any other language or dialect that omits "time" or "hour" in the question.

I assume "with what" would be the same, as in "What did you eat your bread with?" (as in "What did you eat along with your bread?" not "What did you use to eat your bread?").


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## fenakhay

elroy said:


> That's interesting! I don't know of any other language or dialect that omits "time" or "hour" in the question.


You can also use ”waqtāsh“ and its variants in that context.


elroy said:


> I assume "with what" would be the same, as in "What did you eat your bread with?" (as in "What did you eat along with your bread?" not "What did you use to eat your bread?").


Personally (in my dialect), I'd say: مع آش/شنو/شني كلتي خبزك؟ (m3a 2āsh/shnu/shanni kalti khubzek). The hamza in مع آش wouldn't be elided, because, in my mind, I still think of it as "with" + "what", contrary to the other meaning.


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## elroy

Ah, so elision only happens if the meaning is "what time"?  Is it obligatory when that's the meaning?


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## fenakhay

elroy said:


> Ah, so elision only happens if the meaning is "what time"?  Is it obligatory when that's the meaning?


Yeah, it is obligatory. Hence why we write it as one word (معاش or معاياش).


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## elroy

And it only happens when the meaning is "what time"?  In other words, you can't elide it if you literally mean "with what"?


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## fenakhay

In my dialect, you can't. But I think I've heard it elided in some. Though in those, many prefer saying مع شنو.
There is also باش (bāsh) which is always elided, but it is not synonymous (same difference between ب and مع).


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## elroy

What does باش mean?


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## fenakhay

When used as an interrogative pronoun, it means "with what".

It has the same usages as in MSA except the "in" meaning which we don't have.

باش طرقتي داك المسمار؟ طرقته بديك المطرقة (bāsh Tarraqti dāk el-musmār? Tarraqtu b-dīk le-mTarqa)
With what did you hammer that nail? I hammered it with that hammer.

باش مصنوع هاد الكتاب؟ مصنوع بوراق مكررة (bāsh maSnū3 hād le-ktāb? maSnū3 be-wrāq mkarrera)
With what is this book made of? It is made of recycled papers.

(nonsense examples lol)


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## elroy

Oh, so you're saying that باش is _always_ elided whereas with مع it depends on the meaning?


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## tounsi51

fenakhay said:


> Kinda but that's because we say "جيت مع الخمسة" (I came at 5). So the question would be مع آش which is pronounced معاش or معاياش.


 
In Tunisian Arabic to get this reply we would ask مع انى وقت جيت


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## al-Moroccan

fenakhay said:


> It is pronounced with an *ā *not *a*.


Fen a khay (Haha, I just noticed). I don't think the difference is still meaningful in Arabic dialects. I think it depends on the speech and the speaker. Or am I wrong?


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## fenakhay

It is meaningful. I never pronounce *m3āyāsh* with a short a, and the stress is on the last syllable.


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## elroy

al-Moroccan said:


> I don't think the difference is still meaningful in Arabic dialects.


It's definitely meaningful in Palestinian Arabic.  As in MSA, vowel length is phonemic and can change the meaning (as in حَل = solution vs. حال = condition).


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## WadiH

elroy said:


> It's definitely meaningful in Palestinian Arabic.  As in MSA, vowel length is phonemic and can change the meaning (as in حَل = solution vs. حال = condition).



Indeed, this is what keeps the original Arabic root-pattern system intact.  If vowel length was no longer phonemic (or if the vowels in a given pattern had different vowel lengths across dialects), I don't think the dialects would be mutually intelligible anymore.


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