Learn with Aymen
Phrases What it costs Book
القانون والعقار
Words

Law, courts and property in Derja

Contracts, inheritance, ownership and the language of a dispute.

This is specialist vocabulary, and it exists here because a great many people in the diaspora need it exactly once, for something that matters enormously: an inheritance, a family property, a document their parents left behind.

The register here is more formal than everyday Derja and leans closer to Modern Standard Arabic, because that is the language the documents are written in. Expect the spoken and written forms to differ more than usual.

10 words to start with

ملكيّة
melkiya
Ownership, title

The word at the centre of every Algerian property conversation.

ملكيّة خاصّة
melkiya khaṣṣa
Private property
ملكيّة عامّة
melkiya 3amma
Public property
شكون عندو عليها الملكيّة ؟
shkun 3andu 3liha lmelkiya ?
Who holds title to it?

Perfect register mix: MSA noun + Darja شكون + Darja preposition chain.

إثبات الملكيّة
ithbat lmelkiya
Proof of ownership
نزع الملكيّة
naz3 lmelkiya
Expropriation
الدفتر العقاري
ddaftar l3aqari
Land title book
المحافظة العقارية
lmuḥafaḍa l3aqariya
Land registry office
دار التراب
dar ttrab
The land registry (lit. “house of soil”)

A living Algerian idiom: the popular name for the المحافظة العقارية. It turns up in the press too.

دار الشرع
dar shshar3
The courts (lit. “house of the law”)

There are 31 more in this theme

The whole library is searchable, sorted by level, and yours to save from. Beginner level is free.

Make a free account Already have an account?