امبارح بالليل كنت بطلب سمك، وهي كانت بتطلب سلطة.

It means last night.

Literally:

• امبارح = yesterday
• بالليل = at night / in the evening

So together, امبارح بالليل is a very natural Egyptian way to say last night.

Because كنت + ب-verb is a very common Egyptian way to express an ongoing action in the past.

So:

• كنت بطلب سمك = I was ordering fish
• كانت بتطلب سلطة = she was ordering salad

Breakdown:

• كنت = I was
• بطلب = I order / I am ordering

Together, they give the sense of was ordering.

In Egyptian Arabic, بـ often marks the present/habitual/imperfect form.

Examples:

• بطلب = I order / I’m ordering
• بتطلب = she orders / she’s ordering

When you put that after كان / كنت / كانت, it often becomes a past continuous meaning:

• كنت بطلب = I was ordering
• كانت بتطلب = she was ordering

So the بـ is an important part of the everyday Egyptian verb system.

Because كان changes depending on the subject.

Here are the forms used in this sentence:

• كنت = I was
• كانت = she was

So:

• كنت بطلب = I was ordering
• هي كانت بتطلب = she was ordering

This is normal agreement with the subject.

The base verb is طلب.

In Egyptian, طلب can mean:

• to ask for
• to request
• to order (for example, food)

So in this sentence:

• بطلب سمك means I’m ordering fish not I’m asking fish.

Context tells you it means ordering food.

Good question. هي is often included for clarity, contrast, or emphasis, but it is not always strictly necessary.

So these are both understandable:

• وهي كانت بتطلب سلطة
• وكانت بتطلب سلطة

Using هي makes the contrast clearer:

• I was ordering fish,
• and she was ordering salad.

So here, هي helps emphasize the change of subject.

Because they are being used as indefinite nouns here:

• سمك = fish
• سلطة = salad

This sounds natural in Arabic when talking about ordering food:

• بطلب سمك = I was ordering fish
• بتطلب سلطة = she was ordering salad

If you added الـ, the meaning would become more like:

• the fish
• the salad

That is possible in some contexts, but without الـ it sounds like a general food order, which is very natural.

Arabic often puts time expressions at the beginning of the sentence, especially in conversation.

So:

• امبارح بالليل كنت بطلب سمك
  means
• Last night, I was ordering fish

This is very natural. It sets the scene first, then tells you what happened.

Yes, basically.

Breakdown:

• و = and
• هي = she
• كانت = was
• بتطلب = ordering
• سلطة = salad

So the whole phrase is:

• and she was ordering salad

In natural English, you might also translate the whole sentence as:

• Last night I was ordering fish, and she was ordering salad.

Yes, but the meaning changes.

• طلبت سمك = I ordered fish
• كنت بطلب سمك = I was ordering fish

So:

• طلبت is a simple past
• كنت بطلب is past continuous / ongoing in the past

The sentence you were given focuses on an action that was in progress.

It is Egyptian Arabic.

Some clues:

• امبارح for yesterday is colloquial
• بطلب / بتطلب with the بـ prefix is typical of Egyptian
• بالليل in this conversational structure is also very natural in spoken Egyptian

In Modern Standard Arabic, the sentence would be expressed differently.

A common pronunciation is roughly:

• embāreḥ or imbāreḥ

And the full beginning:

• امبارح بالليل ≈ embāreḥ bil-lēl

Helpful pronunciation notes:

• ح at the end of امبارح is a breathy h-like sound from deeper in the throat
• بالليل has a doubled l sound because of the spelling and natural pronunciation

Yes, Arabic has some flexibility, especially in speech.

For example, these can all work in conversation:

• امبارح بالليل كنت بطلب سمك
• كنت بطلب سمك امبارح بالليل

But starting with امبارح بالليل is very natural because it gives the time first.

The original order sounds smooth and conversational.

Because in Egyptian Arabic, the present/imperfect forms for I and she are different:

• I order = بطلب
• she orders = بتطلب

So:

• بـ at the start often goes with I
• تـ at the start often goes with she (and also you, depending on context)

That is why context matters. On its own:

• بتطلب could mean she orders or you order but with هي, it clearly means she orders.

It can cover both, depending on context.

Literally, بالليل means at night or during the night/evening. In many everyday situations, English may translate it as:

• at night
• in the evening
• last night when combined with امبارح

So in this sentence, امبارح بالليل is best understood as last night.