القفص نظيف.

A common Levantine pronunciation is il-ʔafas or el-ʔafas, because ق is often pronounced like a glottal stop in many urban Levantine accents.

A few notes:

• الـ is the definite article the
• ق is a moon letter, so the l in الـ is pronounced
• In some Levantine varieties, you may hear q kept, so il-qafas is also possible

So in everyday speech, many learners will hear something like il-ʔafas.

Because Arabic often leaves out the verb to be in the present tense.

So Arabic says something like:

• the cage clean

but it means:

• the cage is clean

This is normal in both Standard Arabic and Levantine.

If you want another tense, then a verb appears:

• القفص كان نظيف = the cage was clean
• القفص رح يكون نظيف = the cage will be clean

Because here نظيف is the predicate of the sentence, not a noun-modifying adjective inside a noun phrase.

That distinction is very important:

• القفص نظيف = a full sentence: The cage is clean
• القفص النظيف = a noun phrase: the clean cage

In Arabic, when an adjective directly modifies a definite noun, it also takes الـ. But when it is the predicate in a sentence like this, it usually does not.

They look similar, but they do different jobs:

• القفص نظيف = a complete sentence
  The first word is the subject, and نظيف tells you something about it.

• القفص النظيف = just a noun phrase
  It means the clean cage, not a full sentence by itself

A very common learner mistake is to confuse these two patterns.

In Arabic, adjectives normally come after the noun they describe.

Examples:

• بيت كبير = a big house
• البيت الكبير = the big house

In your sentence, نظيف is functioning as a predicate adjective, and it still comes after the subject:

• القفص نظيف

So this word order is completely normal.

The structure works in both Standard Arabic and Levantine, which is why it is easy to recognize.

But in everyday Levantine, you may notice some differences:

• pronunciation changes
• informal spelling may change
• some speakers may write نضيف instead of نظيف

So as a Levantine sentence, it is understandable and natural enough, but the spelling may look a bit closer to Standard Arabic conventions.

In everyday Levantine speech, many speakers pronounce this word closer to nḍīf, and in informal writing you will often see نضيف.

So you may encounter:

• نظيف in more standard-style spelling
• نضيف in colloquial spelling

Both point to the same everyday Levantine word. Dialect spelling is not fully standardized, so variation is normal.

Yes. Arabic adjectives and predicate adjectives usually agree with the noun in gender and often number.

Here, القفص is masculine singular, so نظيف is also masculine singular.

For example:

• masculine singular: القفص نظيف
• feminine singular: الغرفة نظيفة

In colloquial Levantine, that feminine form is often heard as نضيفة.

For a beginner, the safest natural pattern is:

• القفص نظيف

Putting نظيف first is not the normal basic way to say this in everyday Levantine. It can sound marked, literary, or like a different structure.

Also, if you mean the clean cage, the correct form is:

• القفص النظيف

So do not replace القفص نظيف with نظيف القفص.

A very common Levantine negative is:

• القفص مو نظيف
• or القفص مش نظيف

Which one you hear depends on the region.

In more colloquial pronunciation/spelling, you might also hear or see:

• القفص مو نضيف
• القفص مش نضيف

So the pattern is basically:

• noun + مو/مش + adjective

Because in normal Arabic writing, short vowels are usually not written, and in Levantine you do not use the case endings that exist in formal Standard Arabic grammar.

So a learner reading القفص نظيف has to know the word or hear it pronounced:

• القفص → something like il-ʔafas
• نظيف → something like nḍīf

This is completely normal for Arabic script, especially in everyday use.