المدير عنده سيطرة.

• المدير = the manager / the director
• عنده = literally at him, but very often used to mean he has
• سيطرة = control, authority, or command

So the whole sentence means something like:

• The manager has control
• The manager is in control

The exact English wording depends on the translation you were shown.

عنده literally means at him.

In Levantine Arabic, possession is usually expressed with عند + a pronoun suffix:

• عندي = I have
• عندك = you have
• عنده = he has
• عندها = she has

So عنده سيطرة literally looks like control is at him, but in natural English we say he has control.

This is one of the most important patterns in spoken Arabic: Arabic often uses location-style expressions to express possession, instead of a separate verb like English have.

In Arabic, present-tense sentences often do not use an explicit word for is/am/are.

So:

• المدير عنده سيطرة
  literally: the manager, at him control naturally: The manager has control / The manager is in control

This is normal. In the present tense, Arabic usually just puts the parts of the sentence next to each other without a verb to be.

If you wanted past or future, then other words would appear, but in the present this omission is completely standard.

This is very normal in Arabic.

The sentence is structured a bit like:

• The manager, he has control

So المدير introduces the topic, and -ه in عنده refers back to that topic.

English usually avoids this kind of repetition, but Arabic uses it a lot, especially in everyday speech. So even though it may feel redundant to an English speaker, it sounds natural in Arabic.

A common Levantine-style pronunciation is:

il-mdiir ʿindo sayṭara

A few notes:

• المدير is often pronounced something like il-mdiir or el-mdiir
• عنده is often pronounced ʿindo
• سيطرة is pronounced roughly sayṭara

Regional pronunciation varies across Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan, so you may hear small vowel differences.

Because here it means control in a general sense, not the control as a specific previously mentioned thing.

So:

• عنده سيطرة = he has control
• عنده السيطرة = he has the control

The second version is more specific and would usually need a special context. In ordinary speech, سيطرة without الـ is the more natural choice here.

It is understandable and acceptable, but سيطرة can sound a bit formal or abstract depending on context.

It works well if you mean:

• the manager has authority
• the manager is in control
• the manager has command over a situation

In more everyday speech, people might also say things like:

• المدير مسيطر = The manager is in control / dominating
• المدير هو اللي بيسيطر = The manager is the one who controls

So your sentence is fine, but there are more colloquial alternatives depending on the situation and tone.

Use على after سيطرة.

For example:

• المدير عنده سيطرة على الفريق = The manager has control over the team
• المدير عنده سيطرة على الوضع = The manager has control over the situation

So if no object is mentioned, سيطرة just means control in general. If you want to specify the target, add على.

Here are the most useful forms:

• عندي = I have
• عندك = you have (to a man)
• عندِك = you have (to a woman)
• عنده = he has
• عندها = she has
• عندنا = we have
• عندكم = you have (plural)
• عندن = they have

Examples:

• أنا عندي سيطرة = I have control
• هي عندها سيطرة = She has control
• إحنا عندنا سيطرة = We have control

So the pattern stays the same; only the ending changes.

You would say:

المديرة عندها سيطرة

That is:

• المديرة = the female manager
• عندها = she has
• سيطرة = control

So the only big change is that عنده becomes عندها to match a female subject.