Algeria
à la baballah
“at God's door (from Arabic, via Catalan)”
in a haphazard, thrown-together way
Describes anything done any old way, slapdash and without much of a plan.
7 idioms
Maghrebi French idioms and expressions
France took Algiers in 1830 and ran Algeria as part of France itself, départements and all, until 1962. Tunisia and Morocco were protectorates rather than colonies, from 1881 and 1912, and both were independent by 1956. French has no official status in any of the three today, and is the language of much of business and higher education regardless. Algeria alone has more French speakers than Belgium has people, though since 2022 it has been teaching English in primary schools to loosen the grip. Conversations switch between Darija, Tamazight and French mid-sentence, and the borrowing runs both ways. Toubib, bled, kif-kif, baraka and, lately, seum all came into French from Arabic, a good deal of it through the pataouète of colonial Algiers and the pieds-noirs who left in 1962. Kateb Yacine, the Algerian novelist, called French “our spoil of war”, and wrote his novels in it.
MoroccoAlgeria
Tunisia
avoir la baraka
“to have the baraka (Arabic word for blessing)”
to be consistently lucky
This expression means someone seems protected by luck and keeps succeeding.
MoroccoAlgeriaTunisia
avoir le seum
“to have the seum (Arabic word for venom)”
to feel bitter and resentful
It means feeling strong frustration or resentment after disappointment.
Algeria
faire casse-ficelle
“to snap the string”
to end a romantic relationship
An old-fashioned way of saying someone called time on a romance, snapping the ties that held the couple together.
Algeria
manger avec le loup et pleurer avec le berger
“to eat with the wolf and cry with the shepherd”
to pretend loyalty to whichever side suits you
Said of someone who plays both sides of a conflict, showing loyalty to whichever party suits the moment.
Algeria
monter l'aubergine
“to raise the aubergine”
to give someone a black eye
In Algerian French, this means to punch someone hard enough to leave a dark, swollen bruise around the eye, the same purple as the vegetable.
Algeria
rester axe
“to stay 'axe' (a slang word of uncertain origin, possibly Italian)”
to be utterly stunned into silence
Means being left speechless with shock, too stunned to react.