نقعت القميص حوالي عشر دقايق.

A common pronunciation is:

naʔaʿt il-ʔamīṣ ḥawāli ʿašr daʔāyeʔ

A few notes:

• In many Levantine accents, ق is pronounced as a glottal stop ʔ, especially in everyday speech.
• So القميص may sound like il-ʔamīṣ rather than al-qamīṣ.
• دقايق is often pronounced something like daʔāyeʔ.

Pronunciation varies by country, city, and speaker, so you may hear slightly different versions.

نقعت comes from the verb نقع, which means to soak, to steep, or to leave something in water/liquid so it absorbs it.

In this sentence, it most naturally means:

• I soaked the shirt
• or I left the shirt soaking

The exact English wording depends on context.

This is a very good question, because Arabic writing usually leaves out short vowels.

So on the page, نقعت can look ambiguous.

In actual speech, the forms are different:

• I soaked is typically pronounced something like naʔaʿt
• she soaked would usually have an extra vowel, something like naʔaʿet

So when spoken, the difference is clearer. In writing, context usually tells you which one is meant.

Because the verb already tells you the subject.

In the past tense, the ending -ت on نقعت shows I.

So Arabic does not need a separate pronoun here. You could say:

أنا نقعت القميص حوالي عشر دقايق

but أنا is optional. It is usually added only for emphasis, contrast, or clarity.

Because القميص means the shirt.

• قميص = a shirt / shirt
• القميص = the shirt

So if the meaning shown to the learner is the shirt, then الـ is exactly what you want.

حوالي means about, around, or approximately.

It normally comes before the number it modifies:

• حوالي عشر دقايق = about ten minutes

That placement is completely natural in Levantine.

Because دقيقة is a feminine noun.

With numbers 3–10, Arabic uses the opposite gender form of the number. Since دقيقة is feminine, the number appears as عشر rather than عشرة.

So:

• عشر دقايق = ten minutes

This is also the natural colloquial Levantine way to say it.

دقايق is a common colloquial Levantine spelling of minutes.

Compare:

• Standard Arabic: دقائق
• Levantine everyday writing: دقايق

They mean the same thing. In dialect writing, people often spell words in a way that reflects everyday pronunciation more closely.

Arabic often expresses duration without a separate word equivalent to English for.

So:

نقعت القميص حوالي عشر دقايق

literally looks like:

I soaked the shirt about ten minutes

but it naturally means:

I soaked the shirt for about ten minutes

This is very normal. If you want to be more explicit, you could say something like لمدة حوالي عشر دقايق, but the shorter version is more conversational.

Yes, this word order is normal.

The sentence starts with the verb:

• نقعت = I soaked
• القميص = the shirt
• حوالي عشر دقايق = about ten minutes

This is a very natural way to say it in Arabic.

You can also add أنا at the beginning:

أنا نقعت القميص حوالي عشر دقايق

That is also correct, but it gives a little more emphasis to I. The version without أنا sounds more neutral and everyday.