Moroccan Darija for “yes-or-no question particle”
/wach/
واش
Wach nta mzyan?
Are you okay?
Latin Darija has several accepted writing styles. You may see this word written as:
These spellings refer to the same word. In chat writing, 3, 7, and 9 commonly represent ع, ح, and ق. Vowels and sh/ch can also vary. You can search using any spelling listed here.
Say wach (واش) for “yes-or-no question particle” in Moroccan Darija. The pronunciation guide is /wach/. It is a particle. In a natural conversation, you can say “Wach nta mzyan?”, meaning “Are you okay?” The French equivalent is est-ce que.
Wach kayn lkhobz?
واش كاين الخبز؟
Is there bread? · Est-ce qu'il y a du pain ?
Wach ghadi tji m3ana?
واش غادي تجي معانا؟
Are you coming with us? · Est-ce que tu viens avec nous ?
Wach hadi dyalk?
واش هادي ديالك؟
Is this yours? · Est-ce que c'est à toi ?
'Wach' introduces a yes-or-no question, usually without changing the statement's word order. It has no direct English equivalent: English may use 'is', 'are', 'do', 'did', or another auxiliary depending on the sentence. Darija also allows questions without 'wach', using intonation and context.
| English | yes-or-no question particle |
|---|---|
| French | est-ce que |
| Spanish | partícula interrogativa (¿...?) |
| Italian | particella interrogativa (...?) |
| German | Fragepartikel (ist/hast du ...?) |
| Portuguese | partícula interrogativa (...?) |
| Dutch | vraagpartikel (is/heb je ...?) |
| Turkish | evet-hayır sorusu edatı (mı / mi / mu / mü gibi) |
wach (واش) is a Moroccan Darija word or expression meaning "yes-or-no question particle" in English and "est-ce que" in French. It is a beginner-level word in the grammar category.
A natural example is “Wach nta mzyan?” It means “Are you okay?”
Wach is pronounced /wach/. You can listen to the audio pronunciation by clicking the "Listen" button above.
In Arabic script it is written واش (with vowel marks: وَاش).
'Wach' introduces a yes-or-no question, usually without changing the statement's word order. It has no direct English equivalent: English may use 'is', 'are', 'do', 'did', or another auxiliary depending on the sentence. Darija also allows questions without 'wach', using intonation and context.