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