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لم يكن والدي يأكل طعاما صحيا، بل كان يفضل الطعام المضر.

لم يكن والدي يأكل طعاما صحيا، بل كان يفضل الطعام المضر.lam yakun wâlidî ya'kulu ta'âman sihhiyyan, bal kâna yufaddilu t-ta'âma l-mudirra.
My father did not use to eat healthy food; rather, he used to prefer harmful food.
From Lesson 180:Negative past habits (لم يكن)·Arabic (Modern Standard)

Questions & Answers about لم يكن والدي يأكل طعاما صحيا، بل كان يفضل الطعام المضر.

How does لم يكن work with يأكل to mean 'did not use to eat'?
To talk about a negated past habit or continuous action, Arabic uses لم (did not) with يكن (the short or jussive form of 'is'), followed by a present tense verb. Here, لم يكن plus the present tense يأكل (eats) creates the meaning 'he did not use to eat' or 'he was not eating'.
Why do the words طعاما صحيا (healthy food) end with an extra alif?
They are the direct object of the verb يأكل (eats), so they must be in the accusative case (Mansub). When an indefinite word takes this case, it ends with an 'an' sound (tanwin fatha), and Arabic spelling rules require us to add an alif at the end of the word to carry that sound.
How is the word بل used differently than the regular word for 'but' (لكن)?
While both can show contrast, بل means 'rather' or 'instead'. It is typically used right after a negative statement to completely replace or correct that statement with the actual truth. The sentence essentially says: he did not do X; rather (بل), he did Y.
Why does the second part of the sentence switch to كان يفضل?
The first half negates a past habit using لم يكن, while the second half affirms a past habit ('he used to prefer'). To say what someone actually did as a habit in the past, you drop the negative لم and use the standard past tense كان (he was) followed by a present tense verb like يفضل (he prefers).
Why is 'healthy food' indefinite (طعاما صحيا) but 'harmful food' is definite (الطعام المضر)?
In the first half, 'healthy food' is treated as an unspecified amount ('he did not eat any healthy food'). In the second half, Arabic often uses the definite article ال when referring to an entire, general category of things, especially with verbs expressing likes, dislikes, or preferences like يفضل (prefers).

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