لما في برد وما في شمس، ما بروح عالسوق.

Here لما means when or whenever.

In this sentence, it introduces a situation that regularly happens:

• لما في برد وما في شمس = when/whenever it’s cold and there’s no sun

In Levantine, لما often sounds very natural for repeated situations, not just one specific time.

A useful note: in other contexts, لما can mean other things too, but here it is simply a time word meaning when/whenever.

In Levantine, في often means there is / there are.

So:

• في برد = there is cold → natural English: it’s cold
• ما في شمس = there isn’t sun → natural English: there’s no sun

This is a very common colloquial pattern. Arabic often expresses weather or existence this way instead of using a verb like to be in the present tense.

Because برد here is being used as a noun, meaning cold or cold weather.

So:

• في برد literally = there is cold
• natural meaning = it’s cold

If you used بارد, that is an adjective meaning cold. You would usually need something to be cold, for example:

• الجو بارد = the weather is cold

So both ideas are possible, but في برد is a very natural Levantine way to talk about cold weather.

After في and ما في, Arabic often uses an indefinite noun.

So:

• ما في شمس literally = there is no sun
• not ما في الشمس

This sounds natural because the idea is not the specific sun as a grammatical definite noun, but rather no sunlight / no sun out.

This is similar to how English says:

• There’s no sun
• There’s no wind
• There’s no rain

In Levantine, ما before the present/imperfect verb commonly negates it.

So:

• بروح = I go / I’m going / I usually go
• ما بروح = I don’t go

This is one of the most basic and common negation patterns in Levantine.

So the second half of the sentence:

• ما بروح عالسوق = I don’t go to the market

Because the verb already shows the subject.

• بروح means I go
• the b- marks the present/habitual form
• the verb form itself tells you the subject is I

So أنا is not necessary.

You can add أنا if you want emphasis or contrast:

• أنا ما بروح عالسوق = I don’t go to the market

But without emphasis, leaving it out is completely normal.

بروح is the Levantine present/habitual form of the verb راح / يروح meaning to go.

The b- prefix is very important in Levantine. It often marks:

• present actions
• habitual actions
• general truths

So بروح can mean:

• I go
• I usually go
• sometimes I’m going, depending on context

In this sentence, it feels habitual or general:

• When it’s cold and there’s no sun, I don’t go to the market.

Because in colloquial writing, words often get shortened the way they are pronounced.

• على = on / to
• على السوق becomes عالسوق

This is very common in Levantine writing.

So:

• عالسوق = to the market

You may also see similar spellings like:

• عالبيت = to the house / home
• عالجامعة = to the university

Informal Arabic writing often reflects speech rather than strict formal spelling.

Because س is a sun letter.

In Arabic, when ال comes before a sun letter, the l sound is absorbed into the next consonant.

So:

• السوق is pronounced as-sūʔ, not al-sūʔ

That affects عالسوق too:

• written: عالسوق
• pronounced roughly: ʿas-sūʔ

This is normal Arabic sound behavior, not something special to this sentence.

It most naturally sounds like a general habit or repeated situation.

Because of:

• لما = when/whenever
• بروح = present/habitual form
• ما بروح = I don’t go

So the sense is:

• Whenever it’s cold and there’s no sun, I don’t go to the market.

Context could make it refer to a specific occasion, but without extra context, the habitual reading is the most natural one.

Yes, but the meaning would shift a little.

• لما = when / whenever
• إذا = if

So:

• لما في برد... sounds like a repeated situation or regular pattern
• إذا في برد... sounds more conditional: if it’s cold...

In this sentence, لما is a good choice because it matches the idea of a usual habit.

Because each part needs its own existential structure.

You have two separate ideas:

• في برد = there is cold
• ما في شمس = there is no sun

So Arabic naturally says both:

• لما في برد وما في شمس

Dropping the second في would sound incomplete or unnatural.

Yes. A very natural alternative would be:

• لما الجو بارد وما في شمس، ما بروح عالسوق.

That version uses:

• الجو بارد = the weather is cold

Your original sentence is still very natural. It just uses the common Levantine weather expression:

• في برد = it’s cold

So both are good, but the original sounds nicely colloquial.

A simple pronunciation guide would be:

lammā fī bard, w mā fī shams, mā brūḥ ʿas-sūʔ

A few pronunciation notes:

• لما → lammā
• في → fī
• برد → bard
• شمس → shams
• بروح → brūḥ
• عالسوق → ʿas-sūʔ

The little word و is often pronounced very lightly, like w or u, depending on the speaker.