اخي عنده درس بالجامعة اليوم.

Yes. In informal writing, many Arabic speakers leave out the hamza and write اخي instead of أخي. Both represent my brother.

In more careful or standard spelling, you would usually see أخي. In casual Levantine texting, dropping the hamza is very common.

اخي means my brother.

It is made of:

• أخ / اخ = brother
• -ي = my

So literally: my brother.

In Arabic, possession is often expressed differently from English.

عنده literally means something like at him or with him, but in everyday usage it often means he has.

Breakdown:

• عند = at / with / in the possession of
• -ه = him / his

So:

• عنده درس = he has a lesson / class

This is a very common Arabic structure:

• عندي = I have
• عندك = you have
• عندها = she has
• عندهم = they have

Because Arabic usually does not use a separate verb equivalent to English have in this kind of sentence.

Instead, it uses expressions like:

• عندي = I have
• عنده = he has

So اخي عنده درس is the natural Arabic way to say My brother has a class.

درس literally means lesson, but in context it can also mean class.

So in this sentence, depending on the meaning already given to the learner, it could be understood as:

• a lesson
• a class

If the context is university, English often translates it more naturally as a class.

In Levantine Arabic, بـ is very commonly used to mean in, at, or sometimes with/by, depending on context.

So:

• بالجامعة = at the university / in the university

This is:

• بـ = in / at
• الجامعة = the university

In many situations, Levantine prefers بـ where English speakers might expect في.

Both can exist, but بالجامعة is very natural in Levantine.

ال is the definite article, meaning the.

So:

• جامعة = university
• الجامعة = the university

And with the preposition بـ, they combine into:

• ب + الجامعة = بالجامعة

So بالجامعة means at the university.

Because the meaning is a class / a lesson, not the class.

Compare:

• عنده درس = he has a class / a lesson
• عنده الدرس = he has the lesson

In this sentence, the idea is general and indefinite, so درس appears without ال.

Because Arabic often places time expressions later in the sentence, and that sounds very natural here.

So:

• اخي = my brother
• عنده درس = has a class
• بالجامعة = at the university
• اليوم = today

Putting اليوم at the end is completely normal: My brother has a class at the university today.

Arabic word order is flexible, but this order is very natural.

Yes. Arabic has some flexibility.

For example, you could also say:

• اليوم اخي عنده درس بالجامعة

That gives a bit more emphasis to today.

But اخي عنده درس بالجامعة اليوم is a very normal, neutral word order.

A common Levantine-style pronunciation would be:

akhi ʿindo dars bil-jāmʿa il-yōm

A few notes:

• عنده is often pronounced ʿindo
• درس may sound like dars
• بالجامعة often sounds like bil-jāmʿa
• اليوم is often il-yōm

Pronunciation varies by country and city, but that is a useful approximate Levantine reading.

It is very understandable and natural, but it can feel a little neutral or slightly mixed, depending on the speaker.

Why?

• اخي is understandable everywhere, but in very colloquial Levantine, people may also say أخي, خيي, or other regional forms in speech.
• عنده درس is perfectly natural in Levantine.
• بالجامعة اليوم is also very natural.

So the sentence works well for Levantine learners, even if some speakers might choose slightly different everyday wording.

Not perfectly.

A very literal breakdown would be:

• اخي = my brother
• عنده = at him / he has
• درس = lesson / class
• بالجامعة = at the university
• اليوم = today

But natural English would usually be:

• My brother has a class at the university today.

So it is better to understand the structure, not translate every word too mechanically.

The structure is:

noun + possession expression + thing possessed + place + time

In this sentence:

• اخي = subject/topic
• عنده = possession expression (he has)
• درس = thing possessed
• بالجامعة = place
• اليوم = time

This pattern is very common in Levantine Arabic.