Asking About Possession

Lesson objective

In this lesson, you will learn how to ask who owns something.

Saying “whose”

The word dyal can be used with mn to mean whose. The basic expression is dyal mn? — meaning Whose?

Asking about a book

English	Darija
Whose book is this?	dyal mn had l-ktab?
This is Amber’s book	had l-ktab dyal Amber.
Is this Hicham’s book?	weš had l-ktab dyal Hicham?
No, it is not his	lla, maši dyalu.

lla = no, maši = is not, dyalu = his

Asking about a house

English	Darija
Whose house is this?	dyal mn had ḍ-ḍar?
This house is Malika’s	had ḍ-ḍar dyal Malika.
Is this house Malika’s?	weš had ḍ-ḍar dyal Malika?
Yes, it is hers	iyeh, dyalha.

iyeh = yes, dyalha = hers

Possession exercise

Ask a question about the owner of each object, then answer using the person’s name.

Question: dyal mn had l-bisklit?
Answer: had l-bisklit dyal Hassan.

Whose bicycle is this? This bicycle belongs to Hassan.

Continue the same pattern with objects belonging to:

• Said
• Ahmed
• Aziz