Lesson 26 · Beginner · 4 min
Harira and sfenj: street food prices
Asking street-food prices and working out the total.
- Unreviewed: this lesson’s Darija and translations have not yet been checked by a native speaker.
In this lesson
- Ask the price of an item
- Understand “l wa7da” (each) and “kaml” (in total)
- Order several things
Harira soup, sfenj doughnuts, dates: street food is tasty and cheap. You just need to understand the prices!
No audio for this lesson yet
This lesson hasn’t been recorded yet, and we won’t fake it with a made-up voice. Read the dialogue out loud with the help of the transliteration key.
Dialogue
- CustomerBchhal zlafa d l7rira?How much is a bowl of harira?
- StallholderKhms drahm.Five dirhams.
- CustomerW sfenja?And a doughnut?
- StallholderDerhem l wa7da.One dirham each.
- Customer3tini zlafa d l7rira w jouj sfenjat.Give me a bowl of harira and two doughnuts.
- StallholderHak. Bghiti chi tmer m3aha?Here you go. Would you like some dates with it?
- CustomerIyyeh, 3afak. Chhal kaml?Yes, please. How much altogether?
- StallholderTmn drahm kaml.Eight dirhams altogether.
How to read the transliteration
Darija is written here in Latin letters, the way many Moroccans text. A few symbols stand for sounds English, French and Swedish don't have:
- 3
- a tight sound from the throat (Arabic ع)
- 7
- a breathy h, stronger than English h (ح)
- 9
- a k made deep in the throat (ق)
- gh
- like a French r (غ)
- kh
- like the ch in Scottish loch or German Bach (خ)
- ch
- like English sh (ش)
Vocabulary
- l7riraالحريرة
- harira (soup)Tomato, lentil and chickpea soup, a must during Ramadan.
- zlafaزلافة
- the bowl
- sfenj / sfenjaسفنج / سفنجة
- doughnuts / a doughnut
- derhemدرهم
- one dirham
- khms drahmخمس دراهم
- five dirhams
- l wa7daللواحدة
- each
- tmerالتمر
- dates
- m3ahaمعاها
- with it
- kamlكامل
- altogether, all
- chhal?شحال؟
- how much? how many?
Repeat after me
Read each phrase out loud, then cover it and say it from memory.
Bchhal zlafa d l7rira?
بشحال زلافة د الحريرة؟
How much is a bowl of harira?
W sfenja?
والسفنجة؟
And a doughnut?
3tini zlafa d l7rira w jouj sfenjat.
عطيني زلافة د الحريرة وجوج سفنجات.
Give me a bowl of harira and two doughnuts.
Iyyeh, 3afak. Chhal kaml?
إيه، عافاك. شحال كامل؟
Yes, please. How much altogether?
Quiz
Your turn
Ask the price of two things, order them and ask for the total.
Show an example answer
Bchhal l7rira? W sfenja? … 3tini jouj. Chhal kaml?
بشحال الحريرة؟ والسفنجة؟ … عطيني جوج. شحال كامل؟
How much is the harira? And a doughnut? … Give me two. How much altogether?
Summary
“Bchhal…?”, “derhem l wa7da”, “3tini…” and “chhal kaml?” for the total.
Finished?
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