الكلب بخاف، مع هيك هو اليف.

بخاف means is afraid, gets scared, or is scared depending on context.

In this sentence, الكلب بخاف means the dog is fearful or gets scared easily. The base verb is خاف.

Because الكلب is masculine singular, the verb form is the same form used for he/it.

In Levantine Arabic, بـ often marks the normal present tense.

So:

• بخاف = he/it is afraid or he/it gets scared
• without بـ, the meaning or grammar can change depending on the context

This b- prefix is one of the clearest signs that the sentence is colloquial Levantine rather than Modern Standard Arabic.

مع هيك is a very common Levantine expression meaning:

• even so
• still
• nevertheless
• despite that

So the sentence is saying something like:

The dog is afraid. Even so, it is tame.

You should learn مع هيك as a whole expression, not word by word.

هو means he or it here.

Arabic often uses a pronoun like هو in a second clause to make the sentence sound clearer and more natural. In English, we might just say it is tame. In Arabic, هو helps introduce that clause.

Since كلب is a masculine noun, the pronoun is هو.

Even though English usually says it for an animal, Arabic uses grammatical gender, so هو is normal.

In Arabic, present-tense sentences often do not use a separate verb for is/are.

So:

• هو اليف literally looks like he tame
• but it means he is tame or it is tame

This is completely normal in both spoken Arabic and Standard Arabic.

If you want to talk about the past, then Arabic does use a verb, such as a form of كان.

أليف, often casually written اليف, usually means:

• tame
• domesticated
• gentle
• sometimes friendly

With a dog, أليف often suggests that it is not wild or aggressive, and that it is used to people.

So in this sentence, tame is a very good translation, but friendly may also fit depending on the context.

Also, the more standard spelling is أليف with a hamza, but in informal writing people often leave the hamza off and write اليف.

In Levantine Arabic, subject-first order is very common in everyday speech.

So الكلب بخاف is a natural way to say:

• the dog is afraid
• the dog gets scared

Arabic can also use verb-first word order in some situations, but in spoken Levantine, subject + verb is often the most straightforward and neutral pattern.

Yes, sometimes people may omit it, especially if the meaning is already clear from context.

For example, you may hear something closer to:

الكلب بخاف، مع هيك أليف

But مع هيك هو أليف sounds fuller and very natural. The هو helps separate the second idea and makes the sentence easier to process.

So for a learner, keeping هو is a good habit here.

The pronoun, verb, and adjective would all change to match a feminine noun.

For example, with الكلبة:

الكلبة بتخاف، مع هيك هي أليفة

Changes:

• بخاف → بتخاف
• هو → هي
• أليف → أليفة

This is because Arabic requires gender agreement much more consistently than English does.

It is clearly Levantine Arabic.

Signs of Levantine include:

• بخاف with the present-tense بـ
• مع هيك as a colloquial connector

A more Standard Arabic version might be:

الكلب خائف، ومع ذلك هو أليف

or something similar, depending on the exact nuance.

So if you are learning spoken Levantine, this sentence is very useful and natural.

A rough Levantine-style pronunciation is:

il-kalb bkhaf, maʿ heek huwwe aliif

A few notes:

• الكلب = il-kalb or sometimes a slightly softer il-kaleb depending on region
• بخاف = bkhaf
• مع has the Arabic sound ع
• هيك = heek
• هو is often pronounced huwwe in Levantine speech
• أليف / اليف = aliif

Pronunciation varies a bit across Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan, but this is a good general guide.