التليفون كان على الشاحن، لكن الفيشة مش في البريزة.

The phone was on the charger, but the plug was not in the outlet.

Breakdown of التليفون كان على الشاحن، لكن الفيشة مش في البريزة.

• ال: the
• في: in
• مش: not
• تليفون: phone

Questions & Answers about التليفون كان على الشاحن، لكن الفيشة مش في البريزة.

What does each word in التليفون كان على الشاحن، لكن الفيشة مش في البريزة mean?

A natural word-by-word breakdown is:

• التليفون = the phone
• كان = was
• على = on
• الشاحن = the charger
• لكن = but
• الفيشة = the plug
• مش = not / isn’t
• في = in
• البريزة = the wall socket / outlet

So the sentence is literally something like:

The phone was on the charger, but the plug isn’t in the outlet.

In context, that gives the idea that the phone looked like it was charging, but the charger was not actually plugged in.

Why is كان used here?

كان is the past form of to be.

In Egyptian Arabic, many sentences do not need a verb in the present:

• التليفون على الشاحن = the phone is on the charger

To move that idea into the past, you add كان:

• التليفون كان على الشاحن = the phone was on the charger

So كان is what makes the first part past.

Why does the sentence start with التليفون instead of كان?

Because Egyptian Arabic very often uses a topic first style in everyday speech.

So:

• التليفون كان على الشاحن = as for the phone, it was on the charger

This is extremely natural in conversation. You could also hear a structure with كان earlier, but noun-first is very common when the speaker is talking about a known thing and then commenting on it.