Structures;

“kte:b khu:k”, this sentence means “your brother’s book”. We see that the structure is as follows [book + (brother + your)].

we can also say “li-kte:b mte:3 khu:k”, which is “the book of your bother”, but in Tunisian, the structure is as follows; [the + book + of + brother + your].

Compare; {kte:b khu:k}={li=kte:b mte:3 khu:k}, it is the same.

Now, when we have other structures to see:

* The book’s name = ism li-kte:b {ism means name}

* A book’s name  = ism kte:b

So which one does suit you more? It is your turn to play and make crazy sentences.

Remember: A’s B, in Tunisian is;

[B + A] or [B + mte:3 + A]

-          “me:le”; is used in both affirmative and interrogative sentence. In affirmative sentence it means “So………then (?)”, and is used as setting up a consequence to what has already been said.    

-          “welle” means “or”.

-          “fi be:li”; literally means “in my mind”, which is “I know / I thought that…..(but, it was not as I expected it to be / I already knew it / I heard about that ”. Note that the fixed structure [fi be:l] is followed by possessive adjectives which change according to the pronoun used with. Now you are able to make it by yourself; fi be:li, fi be:l(i)k, fi be:lu, etc.

-          “ma:w”; this word’s true pronunciation is ma:hu, which is [ma:+ personal pronoun (objective complement)], it approximately means “truly, actually”, but must be followed by a personal pronoun. Personal pronouns used as objective pronoun in Tunisian are the same as the possessive adjectives, except for [I it is “ni” instead of “i”]. it is much easier to remember than the English one.

But the verb preceding its pronoun does change a little bit. This will be seen in the followig lessons

-          “kif ki:f”; is a very popular word among Tunisians, it means “to be the same”. So, we can make sentences as follows, A and B are alike, [A w B kif ki:f], or we can simply say [A kif B]. (kif can also be pronounced “ki”, as we omit the last letter “f”).

Exple:

My name and your name are the same/ alike = ismi w ismk kif ki:f.

Or

                                    = ismi ki:f ismk./

Or

                                    = ismi ki ismk

-          “mush”; means “it is not” in impersonal sentences, example:

-          “be:hi”; is an adjective and an adverb. As adjective, it means “good, nice”. As adverb, it is used when to agree to what has already been said by someone. Tunisians when using this word, might whether use it alone, or use the English “ok”, or the French “d’accord ”, or the French – Tunisized word “daku:rdu”. Tunisians might also make a selection of these different words and use them at once in different languages. In English when to answer “ok!”, Tunisians might make the following answering probabilities:

Ok! / Be:hi / ok be:hi / daku:rdu / daku:rdu ok / daku:rdu behi / ok be:hi daku:rdu etc…

-          “hu:ni”; means here, and “gha:di” means there. For the word “there”, Tunisians also say “gha:di:ka”.

-          “ey” is Yes,  “le” is No.

-          “ha:w”; means “here is……”. Exple; Here is your book, ha:w kte:bk.

-          « mirsi 3li:k » :means thank you, it is a combination of French [Merci] and Tunisian [3li:k], literally, it means thanks on you.

-          “(yi)3ayshk”, also means thank you, the meaning of the word is literally “makes you live”, and the true meaning is “I pray that God make you live longer”. The first part of the word (yi) can be added as it can be omitted. This word change according to the people talked about.

-          “ min ghi:r mziyye” it means “do not mention it/ No thanks/ you are welcome”, but literally it is “without favor”.

Exercise:

1)      Add the possessive adjectives with all the pronouns for the following words:

Ders (lesson) / bu (father) except for I, it is [baba], for she, it is [bo:ha] and they [bo:hom] / warqa (leave, paper) / da:r (house).

2)      Translate the following sentences into Tunisian:

-          this is not your book.

-          Is this your book.

-          I thought that this is her book.

-          Their basket is Samy’s, it is not theirs.

-          Her lesson is the same as our lesson.

3) Make a dialogue like the one above, using the word “telvze” {TV}, (but when this word is followed by a possessive adjective, the stress follows on a new vowel which appears after the letter “v”, (“telvezt” + poss.adj)).