مبارح ما كان في شمس، واليوم كمان ما في شمس.

مبارح means yesterday.

It’s very common in Levantine Arabic. In Modern Standard Arabic, learners often know أمس for yesterday, but in everyday Levantine, مبارح is much more natural.

So:

• مبارح = yesterday
• اليوم = today

This is one of the most important Levantine patterns.

In Levantine, في often means there is / there are in an existential sense.

So:

• في شمس = there is sun / there is sunshine
• ما في شمس = there isn’t any sun

To put that into the past, Levantine commonly adds كان:

• كان في شمس = there was sun
• ما كان في شمس = there wasn’t any sun

So ما كان في is basically the everyday Levantine way to say there wasn’t.

Here, في is not the preposition in. It’s the existential there is/there are.

That can be confusing, because في can also mean in depending on context.

Compare:

• في البيت = in the house
• في شمس = there is sun

In your sentence, it clearly means there is/there are, not in.

Because the first clause is talking about the past, and the second is talking about the present.

• مبارح ما كان في شمس = yesterday there was no sun
• اليوم كمان ما في شمس = today there is still no sun

In Levantine, the present existential is usually just:

• في = there is
• ما في = there isn’t

But for the past, you usually use:

• كان في = there was
• ما كان في = there wasn’t

So the difference is really about time.

Because in Levantine, the existential idea there is / there isn’t is often expressed without a separate full verb in the present.

So instead of something like there is, Levantine just uses:

• في = there is
• ما في = there isn’t

This is very normal and very common.

So ما في شمس literally looks short, but it naturally means there’s no sun or there isn’t any sun.

كمان means also, too, or as well.

So:

• واليوم كمان ما في شمس = and today too, there’s no sun

It adds the idea that the same thing is true today as yesterday.

A very natural English translation would be:

• Yesterday there was no sun, and today there’s no sun either.

Great question. In this sentence, شمس is being used in a general, indefinite sense, meaning something like sun, sunshine, or any sun.

So:

• ما في شمس = there’s no sun / no sunshine

If you said الشمس, that would mean the sun, referring to it as a specific known thing. In weather-type sentences, the indefinite form often sounds more natural for the idea of sun/sunshine being present or absent.

So here, شمس works like:

• There’s no sun
• There isn’t any sunshine

In this kind of sentence, it often feels closer to sunshine in English, even though the word is literally sun.

So ما في شمس can be understood as:

• there’s no sun
• there’s no sunshine
• it’s not sunny

Which English wording sounds best depends on context, but the Arabic phrase itself is very natural for talking about cloudy or gloomy weather.

The و means and.

So:

• واليوم = and today

This connects the two parts of the sentence:

• مبارح ما كان في شمس = yesterday there was no sun
• واليوم كمان ما في شمس = and today too there’s no sun

In speech, و is often attached directly to the next word, just like here.

Yes, the word order is completely normal.

Levantine is flexible with word order, especially with time expressions. It’s very common to start with the time word for emphasis or clarity:

• مبارح ما كان في شمس = yesterday, there was no sun
• اليوم كمان ما في شمس = today too, there’s no sun

Starting with مبارح and اليوم makes the timeline very clear right away.

A simple pronunciation guide would be:

• مبارح ما كان في شمس
  mbaareḥ ma kaan fii shams
• واليوم كمان ما في شمس
  w il-yoom kamaan ma fii shams

A few notes:

• مبارح begins with a cluster: mba-
• كان has a long aa sound: kaan
• في is usually pronounced fii
• شمس is shams

A smooth full reading would be:

mbaareḥ ma kaan fii shams, wil-yoom kamaan ma fii shams.

Yes, absolutely.

That’s a very natural English translation, even if the Arabic structure is literally closer to:

• Yesterday there wasn’t sun, and today too there isn’t sun.

Natural English options include:

• Yesterday there was no sun, and today there isn’t any sun either.
• It wasn’t sunny yesterday, and it isn’t sunny today either.
• There was no sunshine yesterday, and there isn’t any today either.

All of these capture the meaning well.

It’s one of the most common ways, but dialects vary.

In many Levantine varieties, ما في is the standard everyday form:

• ما في وقت = there isn’t time
• ما في مي = there’s no water
• ما في شمس = there’s no sun

You may also hear slightly different pronunciations or regional variants, but ما في is a very solid form to learn and use.

Yes, very easily. This is a highly useful pattern.

Present:

• في قهوة = there is coffee
• ما في قهوة = there isn’t any coffee

Past:

• كان في قهوة = there was coffee
• ما كان في قهوة = there wasn’t any coffee

More examples:

• في ناس = there are people
• ما في ناس = there are no people
• كان في مشكلة = there was a problem
• ما كان في مشكلة = there wasn’t a problem

So the sentence you’re learning is built from a very productive pattern.