السباحين بعدهم بالمي.

In Levantine Arabic, بعد plus a pronoun often means still.

So:

• بعدي = I’m still
• بعدك = you’re still
• بعده = he’s still
• بعدها = she’s still
• بعدنا = we’re still
• بعدهم = they’re still

So بعدهم بالمي means they’re still in the water.

This is a very common colloquial use. A learner may know بعد as after, but in dialect it also has this still/yet meaning when attached to pronouns.

بالمي means in the water.

It breaks down like this:

• بـ = in / at / with / by, depending on context
• المي = the water

So:

• مي = water
• المي = the water
• بالمي = in the water

In Levantine, مي is the normal everyday word for water. In Modern Standard Arabic, you would usually learn ماء, but in speech people commonly say مي.

Good question. In Levantine, بـ is often used where English would use in.

So بالمي is a very natural way to say in the water.

You may also hear في in Levantine, but بـ is extremely common in everyday speech for location and state. So this sentence sounds natural and normal in dialect.

Because this is colloquial Levantine, not Modern Standard Arabic.

In spoken Levantine, masculine sound plurals usually use -ين in many positions where Standard Arabic would distinguish between:

• -ون for nominative
• -ين for accusative/genitive

In dialect, that case distinction is mostly gone, so السباحين is normal.

So a learner coming from Standard Arabic might expect something different, but in Levantine السباحين is exactly what you would expect.

The singular is سبّاح if you mean swimmer in colloquial usage.

So:

• سبّاح = swimmer
• سبّاحين = swimmers
• السبّاحين = the swimmers

In writing, people may or may not include the shadda clearly, but in pronunciation the doubled consonant matters: sabbaa7.

A common Levantine pronunciation would be:

is-sabbāḥīn baʿdhon bil-mayy

A rougher learner-friendly version:

ess-sabbaaheen ba3don bil-mayy

Notes:

• ال before س is pronounced as is-/es-, because س is a sun letter.
• سباحين sounds like sabbaaheen
• بعدهم sounds like baʿdhon or baʿd-hon, depending on the speaker
• المي often sounds like il-mayy or l-mayy

Different Levantine regions will pronounce it a little differently.

Because in Arabic, present-tense sentences often do not use an explicit verb meaning to be.

So where English says:

• The swimmers are still in the water

Levantine can simply say:

• السباحين بعدهم بالمي

Arabic often leaves out is/are in the present tense. The meaning is understood from the structure.

Yes. This is a very natural word order in Levantine.

The sentence is:

• السباحين = the swimmers
• بعدهم = they are still
• بالمي = in the water

So it is basically:

The swimmers — they’re still in the water.

This kind of topic-first structure is very common in spoken Arabic.

You might hear different word orders in conversation, but السباحين بعدهم بالمي is the most straightforward and natural version if you are introducing the swimmers as the topic.

Putting السباحين first feels very natural because you are saying what is true about them.

So for a learner, السباحين بعدهم بالمي is the safer pattern to copy.

هم is the pronoun them / they.

In this expression, it attaches to بعد and gives you the meaning they are still.

So:

• بعد + هم = بعدهم

This is not just a random attachment. It is part of a very common dialect pattern:

• بعدي هون = I’m still here
• بعده نايم = he’s still asleep
• بعدها بالشغل = she’s still at work
• بعدهم بالمي = they’re still in the water

So the pronoun tells you who is still in that state or place.

Yes, مي is a very common everyday Levantine word for water.

A learner who knows Standard Arabic may expect ماء, but in daily spoken Levantine, مي is much more natural.

So if you are speaking Levantine, مي is exactly the kind of word you want to learn and use.

You could say لسا in many similar contexts, but it would not replace the whole phrase by itself unless you also made the subject clear.

For example:

• السباحين لسا بالمي = the swimmers are still in the water
• السباحين بعدهم بالمي = the swimmers are still in the water

Both are natural in many Levantine varieties.

A small difference:

• لسا is a general word for still / yet
• بعدهم specifically includes the pronoun they

So بعدهم already tells you they are still, while لسا does not contain that pronoun.

Yes.

• السباحين = the swimmers
• المي = the water

So both nouns are definite.

In this sentence, that makes perfect sense:

• the swimmers
• the water

English also naturally uses the here.

It is clearly colloquial Levantine.

The main clues are:

• مي for water
• بعدهم used as they are still
• the overall spoken-style phrasing

In Modern Standard Arabic, you would usually express the sentence differently.

So if you are learning Levantine, this is a very useful real-life pattern. If you are learning Standard Arabic, you should not assume the exact same wording works there.