Moroccan Darija for “late / delayed”
/m-3t-tel/
معطل
Sm7 liya, rani jit m3ttel shwiya.
Excuse me, I arrived a bit late.
Latin Darija has several accepted writing styles. You may see this word written as:
These spellings refer to the same word. In chat writing, 3, 7, and 9 commonly represent ع, ح, and ق. Vowels and sh/ch can also vary. You can search using any spelling listed here.
Say m3ttel (معطل) for “late / delayed” in Moroccan Darija. The pronunciation guide is /m-3t-tel/. It is a adjective with masculine gender. In a natural conversation, you can say “Sm7 liya, rani jit m3ttel shwiya.”, meaning “Excuse me, I arrived a bit late.” The French equivalent is en retard.
Ttran rah m3ttel b nss sa3a.
التران راه معطل ب نص ساعة.
The train is delayed by half an hour. · Le train a une demi-heure de retard.
3lash nti dima m3tla?
علاش نتي ديما معطلة؟
Why are you (fem.) always late? · Pourquoi es-tu toujours en retard ?
Khassna nmshiw daba, rana m3ttlin.
خاصنا نمشيو دابا، رانا معطلين.
We have to go now, we are running late. · On doit partir maintenant, on est en retard.
Masculine 'm3ttel', feminine 'm3tla', plural 'm3ttlin'. The verb is 't3ttel' (to be late / take a long time): 'sm7 liya t3ttelt 3lik' (sorry I kept you waiting / I'm late).
| English | late / delayed |
|---|---|
| French | en retard |
| Spanish | tarde / retrasado |
| Italian | in ritardo |
| German | spät / verspätet |
| Portuguese | atrasado |
| Dutch | te laat / vertraagd |
| Turkish | geç / gecikmiş |
m3ttel (معطل) is a Moroccan Darija word or expression meaning "late / delayed" in English and "en retard" in French. It is a beginner-level word in the time category.
A natural example is “Sm7 liya, rani jit m3ttel shwiya.” It means “Excuse me, I arrived a bit late.”
M3ttel is pronounced /m-3t-tel/. You can listen to the audio pronunciation by clicking the "Listen" button above.
In Arabic script it is written معطل (with vowel marks: مْعَطَّلْ).
Masculine 'm3ttel', feminine 'm3tla', plural 'm3ttlin'. The verb is 't3ttel' (to be late / take a long time): 'sm7 liya t3ttelt 3lik' (sorry I kept you waiting / I'm late).