اذا في مطر، لا تروح عالحديقة.

If it is raining, don't go to the garden.

Breakdown of اذا في مطر، لا تروح عالحديقة.

• ال: the
• في: to exist
• راح: to go
• على: to

Questions & Answers about اذا في مطر، لا تروح عالحديقة.

What does إذا mean here, and how is it pronounced in Levantine?

إذا means if. In Levantine, it is usually pronounced iza.

In this sentence, it introduces a condition:

• إذا في مطر = if there is rain / if it’s raining

So the whole sentence has the structure:

• If X, don’t do Y

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Why is في used here? Doesn’t في usually mean in?

Yes, في can mean in, but in Levantine it also very commonly means there is / there are.

So here:

• في مطر = there is rain

This is a very common dialect feature. A learner might first think في مطر means in rain, but here it is existential:

• في ناس = there are people
• في مشكلة = there is a problem
• في وقت = there is time

So إذا في مطر literally means if there is rain.

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Does إذا في مطر literally mean if there is rain, or is it just the natural way to say if it’s raining?