Definite Words in Moroccan Darija

 

In Moroccan Arabic (Darija), we use the prefix “l-” (or sometimes “el-”) to make a word definite, like “the” in English or “le/la/les” in French. This is very important because it changes the meaning of a word from general to specific.

Darija	English	French
ktab	a book	un livre
l-ktab	the book	le livre
wald	a boy	un garçon
l-wald	the boy	le garçon
bant	a girl	une fille
l-bant	the girl	la fille
Dar	a house	une maison
Dar	the house	la maison

📖 Examples in Sentences

Let’s see how definite words are used in real sentences:

• Jabt ktab → I brought a book → J’ai apporté un livre
• Jabt l-ktab → I brought the book → J’ai apporté le livre
• Shaft wald → I saw a boy → J’ai vu un garçon
• Shaft l-wald → I saw the boy → J’ai vu le garçon
• Hiya f dar → She is in a house → Elle est dans une maison
• Hiya f dar → She is in the house → Elle est dans la maison

💡 Tip: In Darija, the sound of l- sometimes changes depending on the letter that follows it (like dar instead of l-dar). This makes the language smoother and more natural!