المطبخ نظيف هلا، بس الطاولة كانت وسخة قبل.

In Levantine Arabic, the present tense of to be is usually omitted.

So:

• المطبخ نظيف literally looks like the kitchen clean
• but it means the kitchen is clean

This is very normal in Arabic. English needs is, but Levantine usually does not in the present tense.

Compare:

• المطبخ نظيف = the kitchen is clean
• الطاولة كانت وسخة = the table was dirty

Notice that once you move to the past, Arabic does use a form of to be, which is why you see كانت in the second part.

كانت is the past-tense form of to be for a feminine singular subject.

So in:

• الطاولة كانت وسخة قبل

the word كانت means was.

That is why the second clause has an explicit verb, while the first clause does not:

• present: usually no is
• past: you normally use كان / كانت

Very roughly:

• الطاولة وسخة = the table is dirty
• الطاولة كانت وسخة = the table was dirty

Because الطاولة is feminine.

In Arabic, the past form of to be agrees with the subject:

• كان = he/it was, masculine singular
• كانت = she/it was, feminine singular

Since طاولة is a feminine noun, the sentence uses:

• الطاولة كانت...

If the noun were masculine, you would use كان:

• المطبخ كان وسخ = the kitchen was dirty

Because adjectives agree with the noun in gender.

Here:

• المطبخ is masculine singular, so the adjective is masculine singular: نظيف
• الطاولة is feminine singular, so the adjective is feminine singular: وسخة

This kind of agreement is very important in Arabic.

A few similar pairs:

• نظيف → masculine
• نظيفة → feminine
• وسخ → masculine
• وسخة → feminine

So if you changed the noun, the adjective would usually change too.

This is a very common question.

There is a big difference between:

• المطبخ نظيف = the kitchen is clean
• المطبخ النظيف = the clean kitchen

In the sentence you were given, نظيف and وسخة are not just describing a noun inside a noun phrase. They are the predicate of the sentence, so they stay indefinite.

So:

• المطبخ نظيف is a full sentence
• المطبخ النظيف is only a noun phrase

The same applies in the second half:

• الطاولة كانت وسخة = the table was dirty
• الطاولة الوسخة = the dirty table

Here هلا means now or currently.

So:

• المطبخ نظيف هلا = the kitchen is clean now

Yes, هلا can also appear in greetings in spoken Levantine, but context tells you which meaning is intended.

In this sentence, because it comes with a statement about the kitchen’s condition, it clearly means now.

Depending on the region, you may also hear:

• هلّق
• هلق
• هسا in some nearby dialects

All of these can mean now, though they are not identical across all varieties.

Here بس means but.

It connects two contrasting ideas:

• now the kitchen is clean
• but earlier the table was dirty

In Levantine, بس is very common in everyday speech for but.

Be aware that بس can also mean only / just in other contexts, so the exact meaning depends on the sentence.

For example:

• بس هون = only here
• بدّي أروح، بس مش هلا = I want to go, but not now

Here قبل means before, earlier, or previously.

In this sentence:

• كانت وسخة قبل = it was dirty before / earlier

Putting قبل at the end is completely natural in Levantine. Time words are often placed flexibly, and sentence-final position is very common.

You could think of it as:

• the table was dirty earlier

In other contexts, قبل can also mean before something specific:

• قبل الأكل = before eating
• قبل الشغل = before work

But here it stands on its own, so it means earlier / previously.

Often yes, but the emphasis may change a little.

For example, these are all possible or understandable in Levantine:

• المطبخ نظيف هلا
• هلا المطبخ نظيف
• المطبخ هلا نظيف

They all point to now, but the focus shifts slightly.

Similarly with the second part, you may hear:

• الطاولة كانت وسخة قبل
• قبل كانت الطاولة وسخة

The version in your sentence sounds natural and conversational. A good rule for learners is:

• the time word can move
• but not every position sounds equally natural in every context

So it is worth learning the given order first.

The spelling is ال in both words, but the pronunciation is not exactly the same.

• المطبخ starts with م, which is a moon letter, so the l sound is pronounced:
  el-maṭbakh or il-maṭbakh

• الطاولة starts with ط, which is a sun letter, so the l sound assimilates to the next consonant:
  eṭ-ṭāwle or iṭ-ṭāwle

So although both are written with ال, the spoken form changes depending on the first letter of the noun.

This is true in both Standard Arabic and colloquial Arabic, though the exact vowels can vary by region.

Usually, yes: the ending ـة is a very strong clue that a noun is feminine.

So طاولة is feminine, and that affects the grammar around it:

• كانت not كان
• وسخة not وسخ

However, Arabic gender is still something you often have to learn with each noun. The ـة ending helps a lot, but it is not the only factor in the language.

For this sentence, the important takeaway is:

• طاولة is feminine
• مطبخ is masculine

That is why the grammar changes between the two halves of the sentence.