الزحمة اليوم اكتر من مبارح.

A common Levantine pronunciation is ez-zaḥme l-yōm aktar mn mbāreḥ.

A few notes:

• الزحمة is often pronounced ez-zaḥme because the l in الـ assimilates to the z.
• اكتر is usually aktar in Levantine.
• من often gets reduced in fast speech to mn.
• مبارح is commonly pronounced mbāreḥ.

Pronunciation varies a bit by country and city, so you may also hear slightly different vowels.

Because in Levantine Arabic, as in Arabic generally, the present-tense to be is usually omitted.

So the structure is basically: الزحمة + اليوم + اكتر من مبارح = The traffic/crowding today more than yesterday

This is completely normal. Arabic does not need a present-tense is here.

If you wanted past or future, then Arabic would usually use a verb or other marker.

الزحمة means the crowding, the congestion, or the traffic jam/traffic depending on context.

In everyday Levantine, it is very commonly used for:

• heavy traffic
• crowded places
• congestion in general

So if someone says في زحمة, it can mean there’s traffic or it’s crowded.

اكتر means more in Levantine Arabic. It is the colloquial form of MSA أكثر.

In comparisons, it works like this:

• اكتر من = more than

So:

• اكتر من مبارح = more than yesterday

In natural English, you may translate the whole sentence as the traffic is heavier than yesterday or it’s more crowded today than yesterday, but the Arabic itself uses the simple comparative word اكتر.

Because من has different functions depending on context.

One very common use is comparison:

• اكتر من = more than
• أقل من = less than
• أحسن من = better than

So in this sentence, من is the comparison word than.

Levantine often leaves the exact quality understood from context.

Literally, the sentence is close to: The congestion today is more than yesterday.

That sounds a little incomplete in English, but in Arabic it is natural. The noun الزحمة already carries the idea of traffic/crowding, so اكتر is enough.

English usually prefers to make the comparison more explicit:

• The traffic is heavier today than yesterday
• It’s more crowded today than yesterday

Arabic is being more economical here.

مبارح means yesterday in Levantine Arabic.

It is colloquial, not formal MSA. In Modern Standard Arabic, you would more likely see:

• أمس
• sometimes البارحة

So مبارح is a strong clue that this sentence is dialectal Levantine.

It is clearly Levantine colloquial Arabic.

The biggest clues are:

• اكتر instead of MSA أكثر
• مبارح instead of MSA أمس
• the overall simple spoken style

A more MSA-style version might be: الازدحام اليوم أكثر من أمس or الزحمة اليوم أكثر من البارحة if you keep a more everyday noun.

Because ز is a sun letter. In Arabic, when الـ comes before a sun letter, the l sound assimilates to the next consonant.

So:

• written: الزحمة
• pronounced: ez-zaḥme

You still write the الـ, but in speech the l disappears and the next consonant gets emphasized.

Other examples:

• الشمس → esh-shams
• الناس → en-nās

Yes, that is also natural.

Both are acceptable in Levantine:

• الزحمة اليوم اكتر من مبارح
• اليوم الزحمة اكتر من مبارح

The difference is mostly emphasis:

• starting with الزحمة highlights the traffic/crowding
• starting with اليوم highlights today

Arabic word order is often more flexible than English in sentences like this.

In informal dialect writing, people often write it as اكتر, without the hamza. That is very common.

You may also see:

• أكتر

Both are used in casual writing, but omitting the hamza is extremely common in chats, messages, and social media.

So as a learner, you should recognize both spellings as the same word.