العلف بالكيس.

A common Levantine-style pronunciation is il-ʿalaf bil-kīs or el-ʿalaf bel-kīs, depending on the region.

A few notes:

• ع in العلف is the letter ʿayn, which does not have a direct English equivalent.
• الكيس is usually pronounced something like il-kīs / el-kīs, but after بـ it becomes bil-kīs / bel-kīs.
• In fast speech, the initial vowel of الـ can be very light.

Because in Levantine, as in Arabic generally, the verb to be is usually not said in the present tense.

So a sentence like:

• العلف بالكيس

naturally means:

• The feed is in the bag

This is called a nominal sentence. Arabic often says the idea directly without adding a separate present-tense is.

If you wanted past or future, then a verb would usually appear.

Here, بـ is a preposition. In Levantine, it often covers meanings like:

• in
• at
• inside
• sometimes with or by, depending on context

In this sentence, بالكيس means something like in the bag.

So:

• ب + الكيس = بالكيس

That is a very natural learner question, because English uses in, and many learners expect في.

In Levantine, بـ is very commonly used for location:

• بالبيت = at home / in the house
• بالصف = in the classroom
• بالكيس = in the bag

You can also hear في الكيس, and that can sound a bit more explicitly like inside the bag, but بالكيس is completely normal and idiomatic in Levantine.

So the short answer is:

• بالكيس is normal colloquial Levantine
• في الكيس is also possible, but not the only option

الـ is the definite article, meaning the.

So:

• العلف = the feed
• الكيس = the bag

In بالكيس, the بـ attaches directly to the noun, and the article stays there:

• بـ + الكيس = بالكيس

In pronunciation, this often comes out as bil-kīs / bel-kīs.

Because normal Arabic writing usually leaves out short vowels.

So the written form:

• العلف بالكيس

does not show every vowel sound. A speaker already knows how to read it from vocabulary and context.

A learner has to learn the likely spoken form from exposure, for example:

• el-ʿalaf bel-kīs

This is completely normal in Arabic. Everyday texts almost never write all the short vowels.

Here العلف is best understood as a mass noun or collective-type noun, similar to English feed or fodder.

That means it does not behave exactly like a simple count noun such as one bag / two bags. It refers more to a substance or material.

So in English, feed works similarly:

• The feed is in the bag not
• The feeds are in the bag unless you mean different kinds of feed

It can function as a full sentence in Levantine:

• العلف بالكيس = The feed is in the bag

But depending on context, it could also look like a label or a short note, something like:

• feed in the bag

Arabic often allows very short, context-dependent expressions, so both interpretations are possible. In ordinary speech, though, it can absolutely be a complete sentence.

The most neutral order is:

• العلف بالكيس

This puts the topic first, then the location.

You can move things around in Arabic for emphasis, but the basic learner-friendly order here is the original one. If you say:

• بالكيس العلف

that sounds marked or context-driven, not the default way to say it.

So for normal use, stick with:

• العلف بالكيس

Yes. This is the sun-letter / moon-letter issue.

Both ع and ك are moon letters, so the ل in الـ is pronounced clearly:

• العلف → al-/el-/il-ʿalaf
• الكيس → al-/el-/il-kīs

After بـ, it becomes:

• بالكيس → bil-kīs / bel-kīs

So unlike words with sun letters, the l sound does not disappear here.