Hilalian dialects of Algeria belong to three linguistic groups:^[13]

• Eastern Hilal dialects: includes three main groups: Sétif-Batna, Mila-Skikda (includes Constantine), and Annaba-Tébessa-Biskra.^[14]
• Central Hilal dialects: of central and southern Algeria, includes two clusters: Chlef-Médéa and Tipaza-Boumerdès (includes Algiers).^[15]
• Mâqil dialects: spoken in the western part of Oranais (noted for the third singular masculine accusative pronoun h, for example, /ʃʊfteh/ (I saw him), which would be /ʃʊftʊ/ in other dialects).^[16]

Modern koine languages, urban and national, are based mainly on Hilalian dialects.

Pre-Hilalian Arabic dialects are generally classified into three types: Urban, "Village" Sedentary, and Jewish dialects. Several Pre-Hilalian dialects are spoken in Algeria:^[13][17]

• Urban dialects can be found in all of Algeria's big cities. Urban dialects were formerly also spoken in other cities, such as Azemmour and Mascara, Algeria, where they are no longer used.
• The Jijel Arabic (or Jijeli Dialect) is spoken in the triangular area north of Constantine, including Collo and Jijel (it is noteworthy for its pronunciation of [q] as [k] and [t] as [ts] and characterized, such as other Eastern pre-Hilalian dialects, by the preservation of the three short vowels).
• The traras-Msirda dialect is spoken in the area north of Tlemcen, including the eastern Traras, Rachgoun and Honaine (it is noted for its pronunciation of [q] as [k]);
• Judeo-Algerian Arabic is no longer spoken after Algerian Jews left Algeria in 1962.

In comparison to other Maghrebi dialects, Algerian derja has retained numerous phonetic elements of Classical Arabic lost by its relatives;^[18][19] In the Algiers dialect, the letters /ðˤ/ ظ, /ð/ ذ, and ث /θ/ are not used, they are in most cases pronounced as the graphemes ض, د, and ت respectively.^[18] This conservatism concerning pronunciation is in contrast to Algerian derja grammar which has shifted noticeably.^[19] In terms of differences from Classical Arabic, the previous /r/ and /z/ phonemes have developed contrastive glottalized forms and split into /r/ and /rˤ/; and /z/ and /zˤ/. Additionally, /q/ from Classical Arabic has split into /q/ and /ɡ/ in most dialects. The phonemes /v/ and /p/ which are not common in Arabic dialects arise almost exclusively from (predominantly French) loanwords.^[18]

^1 The voiceless "Ch" (t͡ʃ) is used in some words in the Algerian dialect like "تشينا" /t͡ʃinaː/ (orange) or "تشاراك" /t͡ʃaːraːk/ (A kind of Algerian sweet) but remains rare.

The phonemic vowel inventory of Algerian derja consists of three long vowels: /iː/, /uː/, and /aː/ contrasted with two short vowels: /u/ and /ə/.^[18][20] Algerian derja Vowels retains a great deal of features in relation to Classical Arabic Arabic phonology, namely the continued existence of 3 long vowels: /iː/, /uː/, and /aː/,^[19] Algerian derja also retains the short close back vowel /u/ in speech, however the short equivalents of /iː/ and /aː/ have fused in modern Algerian derja , creating a single phoneme /ə/.^[20] Also notable among the differences between Classical Arabic and Algerian derja is the deletion of short vowels entirely from open syllables^[19] and thus word final positions,^[18] which creates a stark distinction between written Classical Arabic, and casually written Algerian derja. One point of interest in Algerian derja that sets it apart from other conservative Arabic dialects is its preservation of phonemes in (specifically French) loanwords that would otherwise not be found in the language: /ɔ̃/, /y/, and /ɛ/ are all preserved in French loanwords such as /syʁ/ (French: 'sûre', English: 'sure') or /kɔnɛksiɔ̃/ (connection).^[18]

Some of them can be attached to the noun, just like in other Arabic dialects. The word for in, "fi", can be attached to a definite noun. For example, the word for a house has a definite form "ed-dar" but with "fi", it becomes "fed-dar".

The article el is indeclinable and expresses a definite state of a noun of any gender and number. It is also prefixed to each of that noun's modifying adjectives.

It follows the sun and moon letters rules of Classical Arabic: if the word starts with one of these consonants, el is assimilated and replaced by the first consonant:

t, d, r, z, s, š, ṣ, ḍ, ṭ, l, n.

Examples:

rajel → er-rajel "man" (assimilation)

qeṭṭ → el-qeṭṭ "cat" (no assimilation)

Important Notes:

• When lunar letters are followed by consonants, the article le- is used.

Examples:

qmer → le-qmer "moon"

ḥjer → le-ḥjer "stone"

• The article el is always used with words that begin with vowels.

Examples:

alf → el-alf "thousand"

Verbs are conjugated by adding affixes (prefixes, postfixes, both or none) that change according to the tense.

In all Algerian derja dialects, there is no gender differentiation of the second and third person in the plural forms, nor is there gender differentiation of the second person in the singular form in pre-Hilalian dialects. Hilalian dialects preserve the gender differentiation of the singular second person.

• Example with the verb kteb "To write":

Speakers generally do not use the future tense above. Used instead is the present tense or present continuous.

Also, as is used in all of the other Arabic dialects, there is another way of showing active tense. The form changes the root verb into an adjective. For example, "kteb" he wrote becomes "kateb".

Like all North African Arabic varieties (including Maltese and Egyptian Arabic), along with some Levantine Arabic varieties, verbal expressions are negated by enclosing the verb with all its affixes, along with any adjacent pronoun-suffixed preposition, within the circumfix ma ...-š (/ʃ/):

• « lεebt » ("I played") → « ma lεebt-š /ʃ/  » ("I didn't play")
• « ma tṭabbaεni-š » ("Don't push me")
• « ma yṭawlu-l-ek-š hadu le-qraεi » ("Those bottles won't last you long")
• « ma sibt-š plaṣa » ("I couldn't get a seat / parking place")

Other negative words (walu, etc.) are used in combination with ma to express more complex types of negation. ʃ is not used when other negative words are used

• ma qult walu ("I didn't say anything")
• ma šuft tta waḥed ("I didn't see anyone")

or when two verbs are consecutively in the negative

• ma šuft ma smeεt ("I neither saw nor did I hear").

Verb derivation is done by adding affixes or by doubling consonants, there are two types of derivation forms: causative, passive.

• Causative: is obtained by doubling consonants :

xrej "to go out" → xerrej "to make to go out"

dxel "to enter" → dexxel "to make to enter, to introduce".

• Passive:It is obtained by prefixing the verb with t- / tt- / tn- / n- :

qtel "to kill" → tneqtel "to be killed"

šreb "to drink" → tnešreb "to be drunk".

Things could be in three places hnaya (right here), hna (here) or el-hih (there).

Unlike Classical Arabic, Algerian derja has no dual and uses the plural instead. The demonstrative (Hadi) is also used for "it is".