بعد العشا اخدنا صورة قدام البيت.

A word-by-word breakdown is:

• بعد = after
• العشا = dinner
• اخدنا = we took
• صورة = a picture / a photo
• قدام = in front of
• البيت = the house / the home

So the whole sentence means something like:

• After dinner, we took a picture in front of the house.

العشا is the everyday Levantine form for dinner or supper.

• Levantine: العشا
• Standard Arabic: العشاء

In spoken Levantine, words are often shortened compared to Standard Arabic, so العشاء becomes العشا. This is very normal in conversation.

اخدنا means we took.

It comes from the verb أخد / اخد = to take.

Here is the breakdown:

• اخد = he took
• -نا = we

So:

• اخدنا = we took

This -نا ending is a very common past-tense ending in Arabic for we.

Examples:

• كتبنا = we wrote
• رحنا = we went
• شفنا = we saw

Because Arabic verbs already show the subject.

In English, you need both:

• we took

In Levantine Arabic, اخدنا already includes we, so you usually do not need a separate pronoun.

If you said نحنا اخدنا صورة, that would also be possible, but نحنا is usually added only for emphasis or contrast.

So the normal neutral sentence is simply:

• اخدنا صورة

Because here it means a picture, not the picture.

• صورة = a picture / photo
• الصورة = the picture / the photo

So:

• اخدنا صورة = we took a picture
• اخدنا الصورة = we took the picture

This is the same definite/indefinite difference as a vs the in English.

قدام means in front of.

So:

• قدام البيت = in front of the house

It is a very common Levantine word. Depending on context, قدام can also mean before in time in some expressions, but in this sentence it clearly means location: in front of.

A close Standard Arabic equivalent would be:

• أمام البيت

But in everyday Levantine, قدام البيت is much more natural.

It can mean both, depending on context.

• بيت = house / home
• البيت = the house / the home

In this sentence, قدام البيت could be understood as:

• in front of the house
• in front of the home

English often distinguishes house and home more clearly than Arabic does. Arabic بيت can cover both ideas.

The given sentence is very natural:

• بعد العشا اخدنا صورة قدام البيت

Literally:

• After dinner, we took a picture in front of the house.

This order is common because it starts with the time phrase بعد العشا.

You could also hear other word orders, such as:

• اخدنا صورة قدام البيت بعد العشا
• بعد العشا اخدنا صورة بالبيت if the location were different

Arabic word order is somewhat flexible, especially with time and place expressions. But the original sentence sounds completely normal and natural.

A rough pronunciation would be:

• baʿd il-ʿasha akhadna ṣoora qaddaam il-beet

A more learner-friendly approximation:

• baad il-asha akhadna soora addaam il-beet

A few notes:

• بعد has the letter ع, which does not exist in English.
• العشا is usually pronounced something like il-ʿasha.
• قدام is often pronounced qaddaam or sometimes with a softer regional pronunciation, depending on the speaker.
• صورة is soora.

Pronunciation varies a bit across Levantine regions, but this is a good general guide.

In informal Levantine writing, people often simplify spelling.

So you may see:

• اخدنا
• أخدنا

Both represent the same word: we took.

In casual texting and everyday writing, dropping the hamza sign is very common. This does not usually cause confusion for native speakers.

The same thing happens with many colloquial words.

Yes. This is very natural.

Arabic often uses the verb take with picture/photo, just like English:

• اخد صورة = take a picture

So:

• اخدنا صورة = we took a picture

You might also hear:

• تصورنا = we took a photo / we got photographed / we took a picture of ourselves

But اخدنا صورة is a straightforward and common way to say it.

A Standard Arabic version would be something like:

• بعد العشاء أخذنا صورة أمام البيت.

Compare the two:

• Levantine: بعد العشا اخدنا صورة قدام البيت
• Standard Arabic: بعد العشاء أخذنا صورة أمام البيت

Main differences:

• العشا instead of العشاء
• اخدنا instead of أخذنا
• قدام instead of أمام

The Levantine sentence is the one you would expect in everyday speech.