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أدوات الاستفهام والربط
Words

Question words in Algerian Derja

What, where, when, how much. The words that turn a sentence into a question.

These are the words that let you ask for something instead of only recognising it, which is why they are worth learning before almost anything else. Most of them look nothing like their Modern Standard Arabic equivalents: واش rather than ماذا, وين rather than أين, كيفاش rather than كيف.

Algerian questions are usually built by putting the question word first and leaving the rest of the sentence exactly as it would be otherwise. وين راك؟ is simply where + you are. There is no inversion to remember.

10 words to start with

واش
wesh / wash
What

The core question word: واش راك ؟ wesh rak ?, واش هذا ؟ wesh hadha ? Learn it first.

واشنو
weshnu
What (fuller variant)
شكون
shkun
Who

Widely used across the region.

وين
win
Where

The everyday “where”: وين راك ؟ win rak ?

وقتاش
weqtash
When

Built from وقت weqt, time, plus the question ending -ash.

علاش
3lash
Why

Shared.

علاه
3lah
Why (very Algerian)

Distinctly Algerian variant.

كيفاش
kifesh
How
شحال
sh7al
How much / how many
بشحال
beshḥal
For how much (price)

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