Moroccan Arabic - Words For Family

In English, the words 'cousin, uncle, aunt, niece and nephew' are used when referring to a family member. In English, when these words are used by the speaker, in most cases it is up to the listener to inquire as to the exact relationship of the relative to the speaker's mother or father. In Moroccan Darija this is not the case. When speaking about a cousin, uncle, aunt, niece or nephew you have to be specific. We will take a look at this in more detail and give some examples.

Cousin

When saying 'cousin' in Moroccan Arabic you have to be specific. You have to let the speaker know exactly who you are referring to. For example:
cousin (the son of your mother's sister) - weld lkhala
cousin (the daughter of your mother's sister) - bent lkhala
cousin (the son of your mother's brother) - weld lkhal
cousin (the daughter of your mother's brother) - bent lkhal
cousin (the son of your father's sister) - weld el'ama
cousin (the daughter of your father's sister) - bent l'ama
cousin (the son of your father's brother) - weld l'am
cousin (the daughter of your father's brother) - bent l'am

Uncle

When saying 'uncle' in the Moroccan language you need to be specific. The listener will then know exactly who you are referring. More specifically, you have to specify the relationship of the uncle to the parent, for example:

uncle (the mother's brother)
uncle (the father's brother)

Aunt

Similarly, when speaking about an aunt, in Moroccan Arabic, you need to be specific. For example:

aunt ( the mother's sister) - l khala
aunt ( the father's sister) - l'ama

Niece and Nephew

When referring to nieces and nephews the speaker of Moroccan Darija is specific. For example he or she would say:

niece (the daughter of the sister) - bent l khet
nephew (the son of the sister) - weld l khet

In English, the words 'cousin, uncle, aunt, niece and nephew' are generally used when referring to a family member and it's left up the listener to inquire further as to the exact relationship of the family member to the mother and father. This is not the situation with Moroccan Darija. The relationship of the 'cousin, uncle, aunt, niece and nephew' in relation to the mother and father is spelled out by the very word itself. Therefore, the listener does not usually have to inquire further as to the relationship between the relative and the mother or father.

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