tjalla
Swedish
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Tavringer Romani tjalla (“inform on”), probably from Romani xalo (“fraud, impostor, non-Romani”). Related to Sanskrit छलिन् (chalin, “cheat, swindler, fraud”).
Pronunciation
[edit]Verb
[edit]tjalla (present tjallar, preterite tjallade, supine tjallat, imperative tjalla)
- (colloquial) to inform on, to snitch; often to someone of authority, such as the police
Usage notes
[edit]More general compared to gola, which implies crime. You might "tjalla för läraren" (squeal to the teacher), for example. Situated between skvallra and gola on the scale of telling on someone to criminals ratting each other out.
Conjugation
[edit]Conjugation of tjalla (weak)
| Active | Passive | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | tjalla | tjallas | ||
| Supine | tjallat | tjallats | ||
| Imperative | tjalla | — | ||
| Imper. plural1 | tjallen | — | ||
| Present | Past | Present | Past | |
| Indicative | tjallar | tjallade | tjallas | tjallades |
| Ind. plural1 | tjalla | tjallade | tjallas | tjallades |
| Subjunctive2 | tjalle | tjallade | tjalles | tjallades |
| Participles | ||||
| Present participle | tjallande | |||
| Past participle | tjallad | |||
| 1 Archaic. 2 Dated. See the appendix on Swedish verbs. | ||||
Synonyms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]References
[edit]- tjalla in Svensk ordbok (SO)
- tjalla in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
- tjalla in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
- Gerd Carling (2005) “tjalla”, in Romani i svenskan: Storstadsslang och standardspråk, Stockholm: Carlsson, →ISBN, page 104