شفت غيم بالسما.

to see

Breakdown of شفت غيم بالسما.

• غيم: cloud
• سما: sky

Questions & Answers about شفت غيم بالسما.

How do I pronounce 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

What does شفت mean exactly?

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

Why is there no separate word for I in the sentence?

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.