ddu

Apheresis of chiddu (“that”).

ddu m

1. that

ddu is most often used as an adjective before a noun- ddu libru (that book) Also dda (chidda - not to be confused with ddà meaning “there” - dda fimmina (that woman) and ddi (chiddi) plural both masculine and feminine - ddi picciriddi (those children), ddi casi (those houses) and before vowels - dd’autru (that other one), dd’autri (those other ones).

• Traina, Antonino (1868), “ddu”, in Nuovo vocabolario Siciliano-Italiano [New Sicilian-Italian vocabulary] (in Italian), Liber Liber, published 2020, page 1261

Inherited from Proto-Berber *əddu (“to go”).

Compare Tashelhit ddu (“to go, to walk”), Kabyle ddu (“to go, to walk”), Central Atlas Tamazight ⴷⴷⵓ (ddu, “to go, to walk”), and Zenaga äddīh (“to get lost”).

ddu (Tifinagh spelling ⴷⴷⵓ)

1. (intransitive) to go

   Synonyms: uyur, ruḥ

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

Inherited from Proto-Berber *əddu (“to go, to walk”).

Compare Tarifit ddu (“to go”), Kabyle ddu (“to go, to walk”), Central Atlas Tamazight ⴷⴷⵓ (ddu, “to go, to walk”), and Zenaga äddīh (“to get lost”).

• IPA^(key): /dːu/

ddu (intensive aorist ttddu or ttdda, verbal noun tawada, Tifinagh spelling ⴷⴷⵓ, Arabic spelling دّو)

1. to walk, to go

   Synonym: ftu

   دّو س تڭمّي نّك. ― ddu s tgmmi nnk. ― go to your house.

   آر يتّدّو ستفسّي. ― ar ittddu s tfssi. ― he walks quickly.

2. to leave

   ايدّا س فاس. ― idda s fas. ― he left for Fez.

3. to pass (time)

   ايدّا واسّ. ― idda wass. ― it's late (lit. the day has gone).

   ايدّا لحال. ― idda lḥal. ― it's late.

4. to be in a delicate situation (used with gis)

   ندّا ڭيسنت. ― ndda gisnt. ― we are in trouble.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): /dːu/

ddu (Tifinagh spelling ⴷⴷⵓ, Arabic spelling دّو)

1. beneath, below, under

   Alternative form: ddaw

   ار تّدّان س كران دمّل غ كران دّو وازيڭ.

   ar ttddan s kran dmml ġ kra n ddu wazig.

   they go to a place under a cliff.

2. before

   مراو وسّان خ دّو لعيد. ― mraw ussan x ddu lɛid. ― ten days before the holiday.

• Stroomer, Harry (2025), Dictionnaire berbère tachelḥiyt-français — Tome 1 a—e (Handbook of Oriental Studies – Handbuch der Orientalistik; 188/1) (in French), Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, →DOI, →ISBN, page 702a

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /ðɨː/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /ðiː/
• Homophone: ddi (South Wales)

ddu

1. soft mutation of du (“black”)