شفت غيم بالسما.

A natural Levantine pronunciation is:

shifet ghaym b-samā

A few notes:

• ش = sh
• غ is a deep, throaty sound, often written gh
• فت in شفت is usually pronounced lightly, so shifet or shefet depending on the speaker
• بالسما is often said smoothly as bissama or bsama in fast speech, but b-samā is a good learner-friendly pronunciation

شفت means I saw.

It is the past tense, first person singular form of the verb to see.

In Levantine, this verb is commonly based on شاف / يشوف:

• شاف = he saw
• شفت = I saw
• يشوف = he sees / he will see, depending on context

Because Arabic verbs usually already include the subject.

So شفت by itself already means I saw.
You do not need to add أنا unless you want emphasis.

• شفت غيم بالسما = I saw clouds in the sky
• أنا شفت غيم بالسما = I saw clouds in the sky / I saw clouds in the sky

The second version sounds more emphatic.

Yes. In this form, شفت means I saw for both men and women.

So a male speaker and a female speaker would both say:

• شفت غيم بالسما

Arabic often marks gender, but first person singular past does not change for masculine vs. feminine.

غيم is a collective noun in Levantine. It often refers to cloud, clouds, or cloud cover, depending on context.

So this sentence could feel like:

• I saw clouds in the sky
• I saw cloud in the sky
• I saw some cloud cover in the sky

In natural English, I saw clouds in the sky is usually the smoothest translation, but the Arabic word itself is a little broader than a simple countable plural.

Because غيم is indefinite here.

So:

• غيم = cloud / clouds / some cloud(s)
• الغيم = the clouds / the cloud cover

In this sentence, the speaker is just mentioning cloud(s) in general, not a specific already-known cloud.

بالسما means in the sky.

It is made of:

• بـ = in / at
• السما = the sky

So:

• ب + السما = بالسما

This kind of joining is completely normal in Arabic.

That is a great question. In Levantine Arabic, بـ is very commonly used for location, where English would often use in, at, or sometimes on.

So both of these ideas are possible in Arabic:

• بالسما = in the sky
• في السما = in the sky

But in everyday Levantine, بـ is extremely common and natural.

Because this is colloquial Levantine, not Standard Arabic.

In Standard Arabic:

• سماء = sky

In Levantine, this is often pronounced and written more simply as:

• سما

So:

• Standard Arabic: في السماء
• Levantine: بالسما or في السما

This is a very common dialect difference.

Yes, it is clearly colloquial Levantine.

A few clues:

• شفت is the everyday spoken form for I saw
• السما is colloquial, instead of Standard Arabic السماء
• بالسما sounds conversational and dialectal

A more Standard Arabic version might be:

• رأيت غيوماً في السماء or
• رأيت غيماً في السماء

But the sentence you gave is normal spoken Levantine.

Starting with the verb is very natural in Arabic.

So:

• شفت غيم بالسما = literally saw-I clouds in-the-sky

This is completely normal. Arabic often allows flexible word order, but verb-first is especially common.

You could also say:

• أنا شفت غيم بالسما

That version adds the subject explicitly, usually for emphasis or clarity.

Yes, شفت comes from the same verb as شاف.

This verb is a little irregular in how it changes:

• شاف = he saw
• شفت = I saw
• شفتِ = you saw (to a woman)
• شفتوا = you all saw

So the stem changes, which is normal for some common verbs in Arabic. It is something you get used to with exposure.

Yes, depending on context, it could.

Because غيم is not always treated like a simple English count noun, the exact English translation depends on what the speaker means:

• one visible cloud
• clouds in general
• cloud cover

If the context clearly shows just one cloud, I saw a cloud in the sky can work.
If the speaker is talking more generally, I saw clouds in the sky is more natural.

Yes, it sounds natural in Levantine Arabic.

It is short, simple, and conversational. Native speakers often use exactly this kind of compact sentence in speech.

You might also hear slight variations such as:

• شفت غيم بالسماء
• شفت غيوم بالسما
• أنا شفت غيم بالسما

All of these are understandable, but شفت غيم بالسما is perfectly normal.