اختي محتاجة طماطم وبصل عشان تعمل صلصة للمكرونة.

The more standard spelling is أختي with a hamza on أ.

In casual Egyptian Arabic writing, especially in texting or informal posts, people often drop the hamza at the beginning of words, so اختي is very common.

So:

• أختي = more standard spelling
• اختي = very common informal spelling

Both mean my sister.

The word is made of:

• أخت / اخت = sister
• ـي = my

So اختي / أختي literally means sister-my, which is how Arabic says my sister.

This ـي ending is a very common possessive suffix in Arabic:

• بيتي = my house
• صاحبي = my friend
• أمي = my mother

In Egyptian Arabic, محتاج / محتاجة is very commonly used to mean need / be in need of.

Here:

• محتاج = masculine
• محتاجة = feminine

Since اختي is feminine, the sentence uses محتاجة.

So اختي محتاجة means something like:

• my sister needs
• literally, my sister is needing / in need of

This is a very natural Egyptian way to express need.

Yes, you could, but the nuance is a little different.

• اختي محتاجة طماطم وبصل sounds very natural for a present need right now.
• اختي بتحتاج طماطم وبصل is also understandable, but can sound a bit more like a general statement or description.

In everyday Egyptian, محتاج/محتاجة is extremely common when talking about what someone needs in a situation.

Because they refer to اختي = my sister, and sister is feminine.

So the sentence shows feminine agreement:

• محتاجة not محتاج
• تعمل = she makes / she will make, not يعمل = he makes

This is a basic and important pattern in Arabic: words often agree with the gender of the subject.

That is a very common learner question.

In Arabic, تـ at the beginning of the present-tense verb can indeed be used for more than one person, including she and you. The context tells you which one is meant.

Here, the subject is already stated:

• اختي ... تعمل

So تعمل clearly means she makes / she does, because it refers back to my sister.

Without context, تعمل could mean:

• she does/makes
• you do/make depending on who you are talking to

But in this sentence, it is definitely she.

Here عشان means so that or in order to.

So:

• عشان تعمل صلصة = so that she can make sauce / in order to make sauce

In Egyptian Arabic, عشان is extremely common and can have a few related meanings depending on context, such as:

• because
• for
• so that / in order to

In this sentence, it expresses purpose.

Because that is natural English.

Arabic does not need a separate word for can here. The idea of purpose is already clear from عشان.

So:

• عشان تعمل صلصة literally = in order that she makes sauce
• natural English = so she can make sauce

The can is often added in English to make the sentence sound smoother, even though there is no separate Arabic word for it here.

They behave more like general food nouns here, similar to tomatoes and onions in the sense of ingredients.

• طماطم = tomatoes / tomato
• بصل = onions / onion

In context, they mean some amount of those ingredients, not necessarily one exact tomato or one exact onion.

This is very common with food words in Arabic. The noun can refer to the ingredient in a general sense rather than a strictly counted item.

Arabic usually does not need a separate word for some in sentences like this.

So:

• محتاجة طماطم وبصل naturally means needs tomatoes and onions or needs some tomatoes and onions

The idea of some is understood from context.

This is very normal in Arabic. English often adds words like some, but Arabic often leaves them unstated.

للمكرونة is made of:

• لـ = for
• الـ = the
• مكرونة = pasta / macaroni

So للمكرونة literally means for the pasta.

In this sentence:

• صلصة للمكرونة = sauce for the pasta

This لـ is commonly used to show purpose or what something is meant for.

Both structures are possible in Arabic, but they are not exactly the same.

• صلصة للمكرونة = sauce for pasta
• صلصة المكرونة = the pasta’s sauce / pasta sauce

In everyday speech, لـ is a very natural way to show what the sauce is for. It emphasizes use or purpose: a sauce intended for the pasta.

A helpful rough pronunciation is:

okhti mehtaaga tamaatem w basal ʿashan teʿmel salsa lel-makarona

A few notes:

• اختي ≈ okhti
• محتاجة ≈ mehtaaga
• عشان ≈ ʿashan
• تعمل ≈ teʿmel
• للمكرونة ≈ lel-makarona

Transliteration can vary a bit, but this will get you close.

It is Egyptian Arabic.

Clues include:

• عشان instead of a more formal word like لكي
• محتاجة used in a colloquial everyday way
• informal spelling like اختي

A more Modern Standard Arabic version might look more like:

أختي تحتاج إلى طماطم وبصل لكي تعدّ صلصة للمعكرونة.

So the given sentence is natural spoken-style Egyptian Arabic, not formal written Standard Arabic.