الحديقة قريبة، بس السوق بعيد.

In Arabic, the present tense of to be is usually left out.

So:

الحديقة قريبة
literally looks like the garden near

but it means the garden is near.

The same thing happens in:

السوق بعيد
= the market is far

If you wanted past or future, Arabic would normally use a form of كان or another verb.

Because adjectives in Arabic agree with the noun they describe or the subject they refer to.

• الحديقة is feminine, so you get قريبة
• السوق is masculine, so you get بعيد

This agreement is very important in Arabic.

So:

• masculine: قريب = near
• feminine: قريبة = near

and

• masculine: بعيد = far
• feminine: بعيدة = far

A big clue is the ending ة, called taa marbuuTa.

Many Arabic nouns ending in ة are feminine, and حديقة is one of them.

So:

• حديقة = a garden
• الحديقة = the garden

Because it is feminine, the predicate/adjective becomes قريبة, not قريب.

Because here they are not regular attributive adjectives after a noun. They are the predicate of the sentence.

Compare these:

• الحديقة قريبة = the garden is near
• الحديقة القريبة = the near garden

These are different structures.

In الحديقة قريبة, قريبة is saying something about the garden, so it does not take الـ.

The same applies to:

• السوق بعيد = the market is far
• السوق البعيد = the far market

In Levantine Arabic, بس very often means but in everyday speech.

So here it connects the two ideas:

• the garden is near
• but the market is far

A useful extra note: بس can also mean only or just in other contexts, depending on the sentence.

In more formal Arabic, you would often see لكن instead.

It feels very natural for Levantine because of بس.

The rest of the sentence uses vocabulary and spelling that are also perfectly understandable in Standard Arabic, but بس as but is especially common in spoken Levantine.

A more formal Standard Arabic version would usually be:

الحديقة قريبة، لكن السوق بعيد.

So this sentence is best thought of as a spoken-style Levantine sentence written in normal Arabic script.

One common Levantine pronunciation is:

il-ḥadīʔa ʔarībe, bas is-sūʔ baʿīd

A few helpful notes:

• الحديقة is often pronounced il-ḥadīʔa
• قريبة is often pronounced ʔarībe in many urban Levantine accents
• السوق is often is-sūʔ
• بعيد is baʿīd or something close to bʕīd in fast speech

Pronunciation varies by region, especially for the letter ق.

This is because of sun letters and moon letters.

• In الحديقة, the next letter is ح, which is a moon letter, so the l sound is pronounced:
  il-ḥadīʔa

• In السوق, the next letter is س, which is a sun letter, so the l sound assimilates and you hear:
  is-sūʔ
  not il-sūʔ

This is a very common feature in Arabic pronunciation.

That letter is called taa marbuuTa.

It often marks feminine nouns and adjectives, which is exactly what is happening here:

• حديقة is feminine
• قريبة is the feminine form of قريب

In Levantine pronunciation, this ending is usually heard as -a or -e when you pause on the word:

• حديقة → ḥadīʔa
• قريبة → ʔarībe

It is usually not pronounced as a full t sound unless grammar or linking causes that in other contexts.

Yes. You could also say:

السوق بعيد، بس الحديقة قريبة.

That would mean the same thing, just with the focus reversed.

Within each half, though, the basic pattern is very natural as:

noun + predicate

So:

• الحديقة قريبة
• السوق بعيد

That is the standard way to say this kind of sentence in everyday Arabic.

Normally, no.

That would break agreement.

You need:

• الحديقة قريبة because حديقة is feminine
• السوق بعيد because سوق is masculine

Agreement in gender is one of the most important habits to build when learning Arabic, because English does not force you to do this with adjectives.

It can be both, depending on context.

In this sentence, it clearly means physical distance: the garden is near.

But in other sentences, قريب can also mean:

• close in time
• close emotionally
• close in relationship

Likewise, بعيد can mean physically far, but also metaphorically distant.

Here, though, the meaning is simply about location or distance.