اختي بتحب القهوة، بس انا بحب الشاي.

A common Levantine-style pronunciation is:

ikhti btiḥebb il-ʔahwe, bas ana bḥebb ish-shay.

You may also hear small regional differences, such as:

• btḥebb / btiḥebb
• ʔahwe / qahwe
• shay / shēy

A natural English-style breakdown is:

• اختي = ikhti
• بتحب = btiḥebb
• القهوة = il-ʔahwe
• بس = bas
• انا = ana
• بحب = bḥebb
• الشاي = ish-shay

اختي means my sister.

The ending -ي means my. So:

• اخت = sister
• اختي = my sister

This attached -ي is very common in Arabic:

• بيتي = my house
• أمي = my mother
• صاحبي = my friend

So in this sentence, اختي is not just sister — it specifically means my sister.

In everyday Levantine writing, people often leave out the hamza in casual spelling.

So both of these can represent the same word:

• أختي
• اختي

The more careful or formal spelling is أختي, but in texting and informal writing, اختي is extremely common.

The meaning does not change.

Because the verb changes depending on the subject.

Here:

• اختي بتحب = my sister likes
• انا بحب = I like

In Levantine present tense:

• بـ often marks the present/habitual
• the rest of the verb shows the person

So:

• بحب = I like
• بتحب = she likes / you like

Since اختي is she, the sentence uses بتحب.

In Levantine, بـ is a very common marker for the present or habitual tense.

So:

• بحب = I like / I love
• بتحب = she likes / you like

Without going too deep, this بـ is one of the things that makes Levantine verbs look different from Modern Standard Arabic.

For example:

• Levantine: بحب
• MSA: أحب

In this sentence, the verbs describe a general preference, so the بـ form is exactly what you expect.

Yes, Arabic verbs often reflect the subject.

Since اختي means my sister, the verb is in the she form:

• هي بتحب = she likes

In the present tense in Levantine:

• بحب = I like
• بتحب = she likes / you like

So بتحب works with اختي because sister is feminine.

A useful thing to remember is that بتحب can also mean you like when speaking to one person, so context matters.

Yes, you absolutely could say just بحب الشاي.

Arabic often drops subject pronouns because the verb already shows who is doing the action.

So both are possible:

• بس بحب الشاي
• بس انا بحب الشاي

Including انا here adds contrast and emphasis:

• My sister likes coffee, but I like tea.

So انا is used a lot in sentences like this when the speaker wants to clearly contrast two people.

Here, بس means but.

So:

• اختي بتحب القهوة، بس انا بحب الشاي
• My sister likes coffee, but I like tea

A very important note: بس can also mean only or just in other contexts.

For example:

• بس دقيقة = just a minute
• أنا بس بدي أسأل = I just want to ask

So بس is a very common word, and its meaning depends on context. In this sentence, it clearly means but.

In Arabic, when talking about things in a general sense — especially foods and drinks that someone likes or dislikes — it is very common to use the definite article الـ.

So:

• بحب القهوة = I like coffee
• بحب الشاي = I like tea

This does not necessarily mean the coffee or the tea in a specific sense. Very often it simply means coffee and tea in general.

English and Arabic handle this differently. English usually says:

• I like coffee
• I like tea

But Arabic often prefers:

• بحب القهوة
• بحب الشاي

Because ش is a sun letter.

When الـ comes before a sun letter, the l sound assimilates into the next consonant. So:

• الشاي
• written with ال
• but pronounced ish-shay or ash-shay depending on dialect/pronunciation style

You still write ال, but you do not pronounce the l clearly.

This is a standard Arabic pattern, not just a Levantine one.

This depends on region and speaker.

In many Levantine varieties, ق is often pronounced as a glottal stop (ʔ) in everyday speech, especially in urban speech. So القهوة is often pronounced something like:

• il-ʔahwe

But some speakers pronounce the ق more clearly as q, giving:

• il-qahwe

Both are useful to recognize. If you are learning Levantine broadly, it is good to be familiar with both pronunciations.

This is Levantine Arabic, not Modern Standard Arabic.

Some clues are:

• بتحب / بحب instead of MSA تحب / أحب
• بس as a very common spoken connector
• the overall casual spoken style

A more MSA-style version would be something like:

• أختي تحب القهوة، لكن أنا أحب الشاي.

So the sentence you have is the natural spoken kind of Arabic you would hear in everyday Levantine conversation.

Yes, often you can.

For example, these are all natural or understandable:

• اختي بتحب القهوة، بس انا بحب الشاي.
• انا بحب الشاي، بس اختي بتحب القهوة.
• بحب الشاي، بس اختي بتحب القهوة.

The exact word order changes the focus a little, but the basic meaning stays the same.

The version you were given is very natural because it sets up the first person, my sister, and then contrasts it with me using بس انا.