لسه ابي بالشغل.

Because Arabic often uses a nominal sentence in the present tense, with no separate verb for to be.

So:

• أبي = my father
• بالشغل = at work
• لسه = still

Together, the meaning is understood as my father is still at work, even though Arabic does not usually say a present-tense is here.

If you wanted a past or future meaning, then Arabic would use other words or verbs.

لسه is a very common Levantine word meaning still or yet, depending on the sentence.

In this sentence, it means still:

• لسه أبي بالشغل = My father is still at work

You will also hear it in other common patterns, for example:

• لسه ما إجى = He still hasn’t come / He hasn’t come yet
• لسه صغير = He’s still young

So لسه is a very useful everyday word in spoken Arabic.

Here, أبي means my father.

That can confuse learners, because in some other varieties of Arabic, أبي or similar forms can be connected with wanting. But in this sentence, the meaning is clearly my father.

A few notes:

• أب = father in a more formal/basic sense
• أبي = my father
• In Levantine speech, many people more commonly say:
  • بابا = dad
  • أبوي / إِبوي in some regions
  • بيّي especially in Lebanese/Syrian usage

So أبي is understandable, but depending on the region, another everyday word might be more common.

It can be, but it depends on the specific Levantine region and speaking style.

In Levantine, very common everyday options include:

• بابا = dad
• بيّي = my father
• أبوي / إِبوي = my father

أبي is understandable and may sound fine in some contexts, especially in Jordanian/Palestinian speech or in slightly more careful speech, but it is not the only common option.

So a learner should recognize it, but also be aware of other very common forms.

بالشغل is made of:

• بـ = in / at
• الـ = the
• شغل = work

So literally it is something like at the work, but idiomatically it means at work.

In spoken Arabic, this is a very normal way to express location:

• بالبيت = at home
• بالمدرسة = at school
• بالشغل = at work

So the بـ is important because it gives the sense of being in/at that place.

Because of how الـ behaves before certain letters.

ش is a sun letter, so the l sound of الـ is not pronounced clearly. Instead, the following consonant is doubled.

So:

• underlying form: ب + ال + شغل
• pronunciation: bish-shughl

This is the same pattern as in:

• الشمس pronounced ash-shams
• بالشارع pronounced bish-shaareʿ

So even though it is written بالشغل, you usually hear something like bish-shughl.

A common pronunciation would be approximately:

lissa abii bish-shughl or, depending on region, lissa ʔabi bish-shughl

A few pronunciation notes:

• لسه is usually lissa or lisseh, depending on region
• أبي has a clear long ii at the end: abii
• بالشغل sounds like bish-shughl, not bil-shughl

Exact pronunciation varies across Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and Jordan, but this is a good practical approximation.

Yes, both are possible.

• لسه أبي بالشغل
• أبي لسه بالشغل

Both mean essentially the same thing.

Starting with لسه puts the focus a bit more on the idea of still. It can feel like:

• He’s still at work rather than just a neutral statement about where your father is.

Starting with أبي is also very natural and may sound a bit more straightforward:

• My father is still at work

So this is mostly about emphasis and sentence flow, not a big change in meaning.

Sometimes yes, but بالشغل is the more natural everyday way to say at work in this kind of sentence.

Compare:

• أبي بالشغل = My father is at work
• أبي في الشغل = possible, but often feels more like in the workplace / at the workplace

In many everyday Levantine contexts, بالشغل is the most idiomatic choice for someone being at work.

It is clearly natural as a spoken Levantine-style sentence, especially because of لسه.

Speakers of other Arabic dialects would probably understand it, but they might use different words themselves. For example:

• Egyptian often also uses لسه
• Other dialects may use different words for my father
• Standard Arabic would usually sound different overall

So this sentence fits spoken Levantine well, even if parts of it may be understandable more broadly.

Yes. Depending on the region and family style, you might hear:

• بابا لسه بالشغل
• بيّي لسه بالشغل
• أبوي لسه بالشغل

All of these can mean the same thing, just with different ways of saying my father / dad.

This is very common in Levantine Arabic: the core sentence pattern stays the same, while the family word changes by region or personal habit.