Moroccan Darija vs Modern Standard Arabic
Moroccans are schooled in Fusha and use it for writing, news and official business, but Darija is the spoken language and the distance between them is the widest of any Arabic-speaking country. A strong Fusha speaker arriving in Casablanca will be understood and will understand very little in return.
The differences, side by side
| Moroccan Darija | Modern Standard Arabic | |
|---|---|---|
| The letter ق | Usually kept as q, sometimes g — قلب is qalb | Pronounced as a full q — قلب is qalb |
| The letter ج | Soft j — جميل is jmil | Soft j — جميل is jamiil |
| Present tense | ka- or ta- prefix: كانكتب (kanktib), "I write" | Bare imperfect: أكتب (aktub), "I write" |
| Future tense | غادي (ghadi) or غا: غادي نكتب | سـ or سوف: سأكتب (sa-aktub) |
| Negation | ما...ش around the verb: makanktibsh | لا / لم / ما before the verb: لا أكتب |
| "What?" | شنو (shnu) / آش (ash) | ماذا (maadhaa) |
| "Now" | دابا (daba) | الآن (al-aan) |
| "I want" | بغيت (bghit) | أريد (ureed) |
| "Good" | مزيان (mezyan) | جيّد (jayyid) |
The same phrases in both
| English | Moroccan Darija | Modern Standard Arabic |
|---|---|---|
| hello | السلام عليكم s-salam 3alaykum | مرحبا mar7aban |
| how are you? | كيف داير؟ kif dayer? | كيف حالك؟ kayfa 7aluka? |
| thank you | شكرا shukran | شكرا shukran |
| happy birthday | عيد ميلاد سعيد 3id milad sa3id | عيد ميلاد سعيد 3eed meelaad sa3eed |
| good morning | صباح الخير sba7 lkhir | صباح الخير saba7u al-khayr |
| good evening | مسا لخير msa lkhir | مساء الخير masaa' al-khayr |
| goodbye | بسلامة bslama | إلى اللقاء ila al-liqa' |
| please | عافاك 3afak | من فضلك min fadlika |
Which one should you learn?
Fusha travels further and unlocks written Arabic everywhere. Darija is the only thing that works in a Moroccan street. If Morocco is the goal, learn Darija and treat Fusha as the reading language alongside it.
Practice Moroccan Darija phrases
8 questions, half of them spoken out loud. Free, no account needed.