Algerian sayings and proverbs

Proverbs are not decoration in Algeria. They are used mid sentence, in ordinary conversation, to settle a point or to make a joke, and knowing a handful changes how people talk to you. Producing one at the right moment gets a reaction that no amount of correct grammar will.

Two hundred and five entries: the fixed phrases everybody knows, with what they mean rather than only what they say. زوج ريّاس يغرّقو بابور, two captains sink a ship, when there are too many people in charge. طوال الخيط ماهو خيّاط, a long thread does not make a tailor, for somebody who looks the part and is not.

The literal reading is a trap

Every entry here has a second line for a reason. These phrases mean something other than the sum of their words, and a learner who translates them literally will be baffled or, worse, will misunderstand what somebody just said about them. Read the meaning, not the image, and only then enjoy the image.

Learn the everyday ones first

A few of these are not proverbs at all but the small fixed phrases that fill Algerian speech constantly. عندك الحقّ, you are right. الله أعلم, which is used where an English speaker would say who knows. كل واحد وطريقو, each to his own. These come up every day, and they are worth having before the more colourful material.

One well placed saying is worth twenty memorised

Do not try to collect these. Take three that you actually find funny or true and wait for the moment. Using a proverb slightly wrongly is more noticeable than any other mistake in the language, because everybody in the room knows exactly how it should have gone. Three, used well, will do more for you than fifty half remembered.

What to do with this page

Read the whole page once for pleasure, without trying to learn anything. Mark three. Learn those three properly, out loud, with the recording, and find out from an Algerian when they would say each one. Then wait. The moment will come, probably within a week, and using it correctly once will fix it in your memory permanently.

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