في عيد الميلاد كان فيه ناس من الشغل ومن الجامعة كمان.

في usually means in, but with times and events it often means at / on / during.

So في عيد الميلاد means something like:

• at Christmas
• at the birthday
• during the Christmas/birthday celebration

In Egyptian Arabic, it is very common to begin a sentence with a time or setting like this, just like English can start with At the party... or On that day....

كان فيه is a very common Egyptian Arabic way to say there was / there were.

Breakdown:

• كان = was
• فيه = literally something like in it / there is
• together كان فيه = there was / there were

So:

• كان فيه ناس = there were people

This is an existential structure, like English there was or there were.

Great question. In this kind of there was / there were structure, Egyptian Arabic often uses كان in a fixed, default way.

So even though ناس refers to multiple people, كان فيه ناس is the normal natural phrasing for:

• there were people

Learners often expect full plural agreement, but with existential expressions like كان فيه, the singular form is very common and natural.

In this sentence, فيه is part of the existential expression فيه / كان فيه meaning:

• there is / there are
• there was / there were

Compare:

• فيه ناس = there are people
• كان فيه ناس = there were people

So here فيه does not mean a literal in him or in it the way it sometimes can in other contexts. It functions more like there is/are.

ناس means people.

It refers to more than one person, so in meaning it is plural. But grammatically it behaves a little differently from a regular plural noun in some situations, and that is one reason why learners notice structures like كان فيه ناس.

Useful comparison:

• واحد = one person / someone
• شخص = person
• ناس = people

In everyday speech, ناس is extremely common and natural.

Yes. الشغل in Egyptian Arabic commonly means:

• work
• the workplace
• the job

So ناس من الشغل means:

• people from work
• people from my workplace / our workplace
  depending on context

Egyptian speakers often use الشغل very naturally in everyday conversation where English speakers would say work.

Because each source is being stated separately:

• من الشغل = from work
• ومن الجامعة = and from university

Repeating من is normal and clear in Arabic. English can sometimes drop the second from:

• people from work and university too

But Arabic often keeps it:

• ناس من الشغل ومن الجامعة

This makes the structure balanced and natural.

الجامعة means the university.

In context, ناس من الجامعة means:

• people from the university
• more naturally in English: people from university / college

Depending on context, it could mean classmates, friends from university, or people connected to that university.

كمان usually means:

• too
• also
• as well

So:

• ومن الجامعة كمان = and from university too / as well

In Egyptian Arabic, كمان often comes toward the end of the phrase or sentence. That placement is very natural.

Compare:

• أنا كمان = me too
• هو جه كمان = he came too
• ومن الجامعة كمان = and from university too

The structure is:

• في عيد الميلاد = time/setting
• كان فيه ناس = there were people
• من الشغل ومن الجامعة كمان = from work and from university too

So the sentence is built as:

[time/event] + [there were] + [who they were / where they were from]

This is a very common Arabic pattern.

Arabic often does not need a separate word for some in places where English uses it.

So:

• كان فيه ناس naturally means there were people
• and in English that may be translated as there were some people

The idea of some is understood from context. This is very normal in Arabic.

A common Egyptian pronunciation would be approximately:

fi ʿeed el-milaad kaan fiih naas men esh-shoghl we-men el-gaamʿa kamaan

A few notes:

• في = fi
• كان = kaan
• فيه = fiih
• الشغل is often pronounced something like esh-shoghl
• الجامعة is often pronounced el-gaamʿa

The ج in Egyptian Arabic is usually pronounced like g in go, so جامعة sounds like gaamʿa, not jaamiʿa.

It can depend on context.

عيد الميلاد can refer to:

• Christmas
• sometimes a birthday

In actual usage:

• عيد ميلاد فلان = so-and-so’s birthday
• عيد الميلاد by itself can often suggest Christmas
• context tells you which one is meant

So learners should pay attention to the situation, not just the literal words.

It is clearly natural Egyptian Arabic, especially because of things like:

• فيه used existentially
• الشغل
• كمان

Speakers from other Arabic-speaking regions would probably understand it, but they might phrase parts of it differently in their own dialect.

So it is a good, natural sentence for Egyptian Arabic conversation.