انا بعرف عربي شوي، بس ما بعرف انجليزي منيح.

Yes, it can often be dropped.

In Levantine Arabic, the verb already tells you who the subject is. بعرف means I know / I know how / I can speak in this context, so أنا is not strictly necessary.

So all of these are possible:

• أنا بعرف عربي شوي
• بعرف عربي شوي

Including أنا can make the sentence:

• clearer
• slightly more emphatic
• more natural in some contexts, especially for beginners

So أنا is optional here, not required.

The بـ prefix is very common in Levantine Arabic. It usually marks the present / habitual verb.

So:

• بعرف = I know
• literally, this is the Levantine present form of the verb

In many Levantine dialects, the b- prefix is used for ordinary present-tense statements:

• بعرف = I know
• بفهم = I understand
• بكتب = I write

This is different from Modern Standard Arabic, where you would say أعرف instead of بعرف.

Yes. In Levantine Arabic, عرف / بعرف often covers the idea of knowing a language, which in English we usually express as speaking a language.

So:

• بعرف عربي = I know Arabic / I speak Arabic
• ما بعرف انجليزي = I don't know English / I don't speak English

This is very natural in Levantine. English prefers speak for languages, but Arabic often uses know.

ما is the negation particle here, and it comes before the verb:

• بعرف = I know
• ما بعرف = I don’t know

This is a very common Levantine pattern.

You may also hear forms with -ش in some dialects or among some speakers, but ما بعرف is perfectly normal Levantine.

So the basic pattern is:

• ما + present verb

Examples:

• ما بفهم = I don’t understand
• ما بدي = I don’t want
• ما بعرف = I don’t know

شوي means a little / a bit.

In this sentence:

• بعرف عربي شوي = I know a little Arabic

Yes, شوي and شوية are closely related and often mean the same thing in everyday speech. Choice can depend on dialect, region, and personal habit.

Common examples:

• شوي = a little
• شوية = a little / a small amount

Both are very common in Levantine, though شوي is extremely frequent in speech.

Yes, but the meaning or emphasis shifts a little.

In your sentence:

• بعرف عربي شوي

this naturally means I know a little Arabic.

If you say:

• بعرف شوي عربي

that is also common and natural, and many speakers may even prefer it.

So both are possible:

• بعرف عربي شوي
• بعرف شوي عربي

The difference is mostly about rhythm and emphasis, not a major grammar difference.

Because here they are being used as language names, and in Levantine Arabic, language names often appear without the definite article.

So:

• بعرف عربي = I know Arabic
• بعرف انجليزي = I know English

This is very normal in spoken Levantine.

In Modern Standard Arabic, you more often see:

• العربية
• الإنجليزية

But in Levantine everyday speech, dropping الـ is common with language names.

Yes. بس can mean different things depending on context.

In this sentence, it means:

• but

So:

• ... شوي، بس ما بعرف... = ... a little, but I don’t know...

However, in other contexts, بس can also mean:

• only
• that’s all
• stop / enough in some expressions

So learners often have to rely on context.

Here, because it connects two contrasting ideas, the meaning is clearly but.

منيح means good / well in Levantine.

In this sentence:

• ما بعرف انجليزي منيح

it means I don’t know English well or I don’t speak English well.

Although منيح is basically an adjective meaning good, Levantine often uses it where English would use the adverb well.

So:

• منيح = good / well, depending on context

Its position at the end is very natural:

• بعرفه منيح = I know him well
• ما بحكي عربي منيح = I don’t speak Arabic well

They are similar, and both can mean good / well, but there are regional and stylistic differences.

• منيح is very common in Levantine
• كويس is also widely understood and used, but may sound more common in some regions or registers than others

So these are both possible:

• ما بعرف انجليزي منيح
• ما بعرف انجليزي كويس

Both would generally be understood as I don’t know/speak English well.

A rough pronunciation in Latin letters could be:

• ana ba3ref 3arabi shway, bas ma ba3ref inglizi منيح
• more smoothly: ana ba3ref 3arabi shway, bas ma ba3ref inglizi منيح

A more learner-friendly version:

• ana ba‘ref ‘arabi shway, bas ma ba‘ref inglizi منيح

A few pronunciation notes:

• ع in عربي is the letter ʿayn, a sound English doesn’t have
• بعرف is often pronounced ba3ref or baعرف depending on how people transliterate
• شوي is often pronounced something like shway
• منيح is often mnii7 or mnih, depending on transliteration style

There is no single perfect Latin spelling, because transliteration systems vary a lot.

The verb is عرف in the sense of to know.

In Levantine, the I form in the present is:

• بعرف = I know

The b- marks the present, and the rest of the form shows the verb stem.

Very roughly:

• أنا بعرف = I know
• إنتَ بتعرف = you know
• إنتِ بتعرفي = you know
• هو بيعرف = he knows
• هي بتعرف = she knows

You do not need to master the full system to understand this sentence, but it helps to notice that بعرف specifically matches I here.

It is specifically Levantine-style spoken Arabic.

A Modern Standard Arabic version would be something more like:

• أنا أعرف العربية قليلاً، لكنني لا أعرف الإنجليزية جيداً

The Levantine features include:

• بعرف instead of أعرف
• بس instead of لكن
• شوي instead of قليلاً
• منيح instead of جيداً
• no case endings
• more everyday spoken phrasing

So if you are learning Levantine conversation, your original sentence is exactly the kind of structure you want to notice and practice.

Because Levantine often uses adjectives in places where English prefers adverbs.

English distinguishes:

• good (adjective)
• well (adverb)

Levantine Arabic often does not make that distinction in the same way in everyday speech.

So:

• منيح can mean good
• and also well, depending on context

That is why:

• ما بعرف انجليزي منيح

is completely natural for I don’t know/speak English well.

Yes, potentially.

بعرف عربي شوي can cover a few related meanings, depending on context:

• I know a little Arabic
• I speak a little Arabic
• I understand some Arabic

In real conversation, listeners usually interpret it as I know/speak a little Arabic.

If someone wanted to be more specific, they might choose a different verb:

• بحكي عربي شوي = I speak a little Arabic
• بفهم عربي شوي = I understand a little Arabic

But بعرف is a very common broad choice and sounds natural.