امبارح الجو كان حر.

A natural pronunciation is:

embāreḥ el-gaww kān ḥarr

A rough English-friendly guide:

• امبارح → em-BAA-reḥ
• الجو → el-GAWW
• كان → kaan
• حر → ḥarr

A few useful notes:

• In Egyptian Arabic, ج is usually pronounced g, so الجو sounds like el-gaww, not al-jaww.
• The ح sound is a stronger, throatier h than normal English h.
• حر is usually pronounced ḥarr, with a strong/doubled r.

Word by word:

• امبارح = yesterday
• الجو = the weather
• كان = was
• حر = hot

So the structure is literally:

Yesterday + the weather + was + hot

Because الجو is the normal everyday Egyptian word for the weather.

Literally, it can also relate to the atmosphere / air / surroundings, but in daily speech it very often means weather.

So:

• الجو حر = The weather is hot
• الجو جميل = The weather is nice
• الجو برد = The weather is cold

You may also learn الطقس for weather, but that sounds more formal or more like Standard Arabic. In casual Egyptian, الجو is much more common.

Because Arabic needs كان to express was in the past.

In Egyptian Arabic:

• الجو حر = The weather is hot
• الجو كان حر = The weather was hot

So كان is what turns the sentence into the past.

This is very important because in the present tense, Arabic often does not use a word for is:

• الجو حر literally looks like the weather hot
• but it means the weather is hot

In the past, though, you normally add كان.

Normally, no.

Even though امبارح already tells you the time, Egyptian Arabic still usually uses كان for a past statement like this:

• natural: امبارح الجو كان حر
• not the normal full form: امبارح الجو حر

Without كان, it can sound incomplete, overly clipped, or unnatural in ordinary speech.

So a good rule is:

• present: الجو حر
• past: الجو كان حر

Yes, the time word can move.

Arabic often puts time expressions near the beginning to set the scene:

• امبارح الجو كان حر = Yesterday, the weather was hot

But you can also say:

• الجو كان حر امبارح

Both are understandable and natural. The difference is mainly emphasis:

• امبارح الجو كان حر puts yesterday up front
• الجو كان حر امبارح starts with the weather

For learners, the original sentence is a very common and natural pattern.

In Egyptian Arabic, حر is the usual everyday word for hot when talking about weather or temperature.

So Egyptians commonly say:

• الجو حر = The weather is hot

You may also know حار, which is more associated with Standard Arabic or other contexts/dialects. But in everyday Egyptian, حر is the normal choice here.

So if you want to sound natural in Egyptian Arabic, الجو حر is the phrase to remember.

That is because this is Egyptian Arabic, not Standard Arabic pronunciation.

Two main things change:

1. الـ is usually pronounced el- or il- in Egyptian speech, not al-
2. ج is usually pronounced g in Egyptian Arabic

So:

• Standard Arabic style: al-jaww
• Egyptian Arabic style: el-gaww

That is one of the most noticeable pronunciation differences between Egyptian Arabic and MSA.

Great question. In normal Arabic spelling, short vowels and the doubling mark are often not written, so learners have to know the pronunciation from experience.

In this sentence, حر is pronounced ḥarr:

• ḥ = a deeper/throatier h
• arr = a short vowel plus a strong/doubled r

So even though you see only حر, the spoken form is usually ḥarr.

This is very common in Arabic writing: the written form gives you the skeleton, and you learn the exact spoken vowels and consonant length from usage.

In Egyptian Arabic, امبارح is very common.

You may also see or hear slight variants such as:

• مبارح
• بارح

These are related forms used in different regions or styles of speech. For Egyptian learners, امبارح is a very safe and common form to learn.

So if you say امبارح, people will understand you perfectly.

You would say:

الجو حر

That means The weather is hot.

Notice that كان disappears in the present tense, because Arabic usually does not say is in sentences like this.

So compare:

• الجو حر = The weather is hot
• الجو كان حر = The weather was hot

A natural negative version is:

امبارح الجو ماكانش حر

That means Yesterday the weather wasn’t hot.

Here, ماكانش is the negative form of كان in Egyptian Arabic.

So:

• كان = was
• ماكانش = wasn’t

This ما...ش pattern is extremely common in Egyptian Arabic negation.

Yes. كان agrees with the subject.

In this sentence, the subject is الجو, which is grammatically masculine singular, so you get:

• كان

If the subject were feminine singular, you would usually use:

• كانت

For this exact sentence, though, كان is correct because الجو is masculine.

A very useful pattern is:

time expression + subject + كان + adjective

For example:

• امبارح الجو كان حر = Yesterday the weather was hot
• الصبح الجو كان جميل = In the morning the weather was nice
• بالليل الجو كان برد = At night the weather was cold

This is a very common way to describe past situations in Egyptian Arabic.