Professional Documents
Culture Documents
This monolingual Tamazight Dictionary is the product of several months of serious work,
dedication and determination of PCV/ Morocco Stacy Alboher (2005-2007).
Many thanks go to all those who have contributed to the collection of words contained in
this dictionary or helped verify the diverse meanings of these words.
While Stacy stated that this work is by no means exhaustive, I strongly believe that it
has great utility in helping PCVs / PCTs with their Tamazight language towards their
integration in their communities and being effective volunteers.
I would urge all users of this dictionary to make notes of any corrections, additions or
typing mistakes, while bearing in mind that there will be regional variations. I will be very
pleased to receive your notes and consider them for further elaborations on this
dictionary
Abderrahmane Boujenab
Training Manager
(June 2007)
Introduction…………………………………………....3
How to Use This Book…………………………….....4
English-Tamazight…………………………………....5
Tamazight-English…………………………………..50
Verbs………………………………………………...101
Countries……………………………………………149
God phrases………………………………………..152
I would also like to thank Lahcen Azaguagh, who worked with me to compile the list of God
phrases and put the finishing touches on the book, and Abderrahmane Boujenab, as
without his support this project never would have happened.
In this edition, I removed the Arabic letters and placed the whole thing in transcription, took
out Tashelheit vocabulary, corrected the mistakes contained within, and considerably
expanded the breadth from the previous version. I also removed the regional references,
instead listing words and all their possible translations in one line, and made it both English-
Tamazight and Tamazight-English so words can be looked up either way.
In addition, I added a verb section, where you will find not only the infinitives but also the
present continuous and first person past conjugation for each of the verbs. While some
verbs do not necessarily make sense when conjugated in the first person, most were still
conjugated that way simply to indicate which pattern they follow. The exception is those
verbs which are only used in one way (i.e. to bloom, which always refers to flowers) and
were therefore conjugated as such.
Finally, I also included a current list of all the countries in the world, and a section for God
phrases, including their literal translation and the contexts in which they are used.
While I hope this edition is an improvement over the previous version, I am well aware that
it is by no means exhaustive. I am sure there are still innumerable words that are not
included here, as well as much vocabulary that would be different in another region. While I
hope that the words listed here include those from all of Morocco’s Tamazight speaking
regions, both Mohamed and I live in the south, meaning that the vocabulary contained
within will likely be closest to the Tamazight spoken in the Kelaa Mgouna/Boumalen Dades
region.
I hope this document helps with your language learning, and wish you the best of luck with
your service.
Sincerely,
Stacy Alboher
Editor
“x” is the equivalent of the Arabic letter “ ”خIt makes a “kh” sound, pronounced like “ch”
in the German word “Nacht.”
“q” is the equivalent of the Arabic letter “ ”قIt sounds like the “k” in “cork.”
“H” is the equivalent of the Arabic letter “ ”حIt sounds like the “h” in “hat.”
“i” is the equivalent of the Arabic letter “ ”يIt sounds like “ee,” as in “feet”
“u” is the equivalent of the Arabic letter “ ”ﻮIt sounds like “oo,” as in “food”
“š” is the equivalent of the Arabic letter “ ”ﺸIt sounds like “sh,” as in “shame”
“ş” is the equivalent of the Arabic letter “ ”صIt is pronounced like the “s” in “saw.”
“ţ” is the equivalent of the Arabic letter “ ”طIt sounds like the “t” in “torn.”
“ď ” is the equivalent of the Arabic letter “ ”ضIt sounds like the “da” in “dam.”
“ġ” is the equivalent of the Arabic letter “ ”غIt sounds like “gh,” or the rolling French “r.”
عis the only Arabic letter that is used in this document. It sounds like “aa,” as in “baa.”
In addition to these letters, there are some symbols that have been included to indicate the
presence of pronouns. These are as follows:
^ indicates that a possessive pronoun (inu, u, nm, nk, ns, nġ, nun, nknt, nsn, nsnt)
should be added
* indicates that an indirect object pronoun (i, am, ak, as, aġ, awn, awnt, asn, asnt)
should be added
٭indicates that a direct object pronoun (i, km, k, t, tt, tn, tnt) should be added
Words in italics indicate words that may be considered Hšuma, or inappropriate, and should
therefore be used with caution.
Finally, all English words followed by an asterisk (*) or Tamazight words followed by two
asterisks (**) indicate Arabic words that are also used in Tamazight.
tnġraf nġrfġ
to fall badly nġrf
to fan šţf šţţf šţfġ
to fart skuffi skuffuy skuffiġ
to fart skuzzi skuzzuy skuzziġ
to fart ut (conj) kkat akuzzi utġ akuzzi
akuzzi/akuffi/urd
to fast uzum tuzum azumġ
to fasten (i.e. cow) krf krrf krfġ
to father children aru ttaru uruġ
to fear ggd tggd ggdġ
to feed stš stša stšiġ
to feed animals .عlf .عllf .عlfġ
to feel Hssa tHssa Hssaġ
to fence in suty sutuy sutiyġ
to fight nnaġ tnnaġ nnaġ'ġ
to fight (verbally) .عayr tعayar .عayrġ
to fill .عmmr tعmmar .عmmrġ
to fill tkur tkkur tkarġ
to filter şffa tşffa şffaġ
to finance mwwl tmwwal mwwlġ
to find af tafa ufiġ
to finish fuku tfuku fukkiġ
to finish kmml tkmmal kmmlġ
to fish amz islman tamz islman umzġ islman
to fish şyyď tşyyď şyyďġ
to fit ga tgga giġ