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LESSON 16Demonstrative Adjectives
Lesson objective
In this lesson, you will learn how to place this, that, these, and those directly before nouns.
Demonstrative adjective forms
| English | Darija |
|---|---|
| This / these | had |
| That — masculine | dak |
| That — feminine | dik |
| Those — plural | duk |
The form had is used with masculine singular nouns, feminine singular nouns, and plural nouns alike.
Using the definite article
A noun that follows a demonstrative adjective must have the definite article, which may appear as l- before some words, or as a doubled first consonant before others.
Examples
| English | Darija |
|---|---|
| This man | had r-rajl |
| This woman | had l-mra |
| These men | had r-rjal |
| These women | had l-3yalat |
had l-mdina kbira. — This city is big.
dik ḍ-ḍar kbira. — That house is big.
Talking about a general situation
Sometimes this and that refer to a complete situation instead of one specific object — for example: “Some students are always late for class. I do not like that.” In Darija, special expressions are used for this meaning.
| English | Darija |
|---|---|
| This situation or matter | had š-ši |
| That situation or matter | dak š-ši |
Comparing objects and situations
| English | Darija |
|---|---|
| What is this? — an object | aš hada? |
| What is this? — a situation or matter | aš had š-ši? |
| I want that — a specific object | bġit hadak. |
| That is what I want — a situation or result | dak š-ši l-li bġit. |
After hearing native speakers regularly, learners become more familiar with when to use the normal demonstrative forms and when to use had š-ši or dak š-ši.
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