هي بتطبخ زي ماما.

A quick breakdown:

• هي = she
• بتطبخ = cooks / is cooking
• زي = like
• ماما = Mom / Mama

So the structure is:

she + cooks/is cooking + like + Mom

Even if the overall meaning is already known, this is a useful way to see how the sentence is built.

In Egyptian Arabic, present-tense verbs commonly take بـ at the beginning.

So in بتطبخ:

• بـ marks the normal present form in Egyptian Arabic
• تـ is the person/gender marker here
• the rest is the verb root related to cooking

So بتطبخ is the Egyptian colloquial present form meaning she cooks or she is cooking.

This is one of the big differences between Egyptian Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic.

Because in Arabic, the verb itself shows person and gender.

For this verb form in Egyptian Arabic:

• بيـ... is typically he
• بتـ... is typically she
• بتـ... can also be you when speaking to one male

So:

• هي بتطبخ = she cooks / she is cooking
• هو بيطبخ = he cooks / he is cooking

The ت is the feminine/second-person marker in this pattern.

Yes. By itself, بتطبخ can mean either:

• she cooks / she is cooking
• you cook / you are cooking when talking to one man

That is normal in Arabic: some verb forms are shared.

The subject pronoun makes it clear here:

• هي بتطبخ = she cooks
• إنتَ بتطبخ = you cook (to one male)

So in this sentence, هي removes the ambiguity.

You could absolutely say بتطبخ زي ماما.

Arabic verbs already contain subject information, so the pronoun is often optional.

Why include هي then?

• to make the subject clearer
• to add a little emphasis
• to avoid ambiguity, since بتطبخ could also mean you cook to a male listener

So:

• هي بتطبخ زي ماما = clear, explicit she
• بتطبخ زي ماما = also natural if context already makes the subject obvious

It can mean either one, depending on context.

In Egyptian Arabic, this present form often covers both:

• she cooks
• she is cooking

So هي بتطبخ زي ماما could mean:

• She cooks like Mom
• She’s cooking like Mom

The situation usually tells you which meaning is intended.

If you need to make it clearer, speakers often rely on context words like دلوقتي (now) or the surrounding conversation.

زي is the common everyday Egyptian Arabic word for like / similar to / the way ... does.

So:

• زي ماما = like Mom

This is very natural in spoken Egyptian Arabic.

A learner may know more formal words like مثل, but زي is what you will hear all the time in everyday Egyptian speech.

Arabic does not need an extra helping word here.

In English, we often say:

• She cooks like Mom does

In Egyptian Arabic, زي ماما already gives that comparison naturally. It can mean:

• like Mom
• the way Mom does

So هي بتطبخ زي ماما is complete as it is. No extra word is needed after ماما.

ماما is the everyday, affectionate word Mom / Mama.

It sounds natural and conversational.
Using أمها would mean her mother, which is more explicit and more detached in tone.

So the difference is roughly:

• ماما = Mom / Mama
• أمها = her mother

In a spoken Egyptian sentence like this, ماما sounds very normal.

No.

You do not say الماما here.

ماما behaves like a name or family title in this kind of sentence, so it stands on its own:

• زي ماما = like Mom

This is similar to English, where we say like Mom, not like the Mom.

Yes, it is clearly colloquial Egyptian Arabic, not Modern Standard Arabic.

A few clues:

• زي is a very common Egyptian colloquial word
• بتطبخ with بـ is typical of spoken Egyptian present tense
• the whole sentence has a natural spoken, everyday feel

A more formal Standard Arabic version would be different in wording and style. So if you are learning Egyptian Arabic, this sentence is exactly the kind of thing you want to get used to.