المحل كان غالي قبل، بس هلا صار رخيص.

In Levantine, المحل usually means the shop or the store. Literally, it can also mean the place/location, so context matters.

In this sentence, because the speaker is talking about something being expensive and then cheap, the most likely meaning is the shop or the place/business.

كان is the past form of to be.

So:

• المحل كان غالي = the shop was expensive

A very important Arabic pattern is:

• In the present, Arabic usually does not use a word for is/am/are
• In the past, Arabic does use كان

So:

• المحل غالي = the shop is expensive
• المحل كان غالي = the shop was expensive

It can suggest either one, depending on context.

In this sentence, because you also have قبل and هلا, it strongly gives the idea of a previous state:

• before, it was expensive
• now, it has become cheap

So a natural English understanding is often it used to be expensive before.

Here, بس means but.

So the sentence structure is:

• before X
• but now Y

Be careful: بس can also mean other things in other contexts, especially only or that’s enough. But in this sentence it clearly means but.

Yes. هلا is a common Levantine word meaning now or right now.

It is dialectal, and you may also see spellings like:

• هلأ
• هلق
• هلا

They all represent everyday spoken Levantine forms. The formal MSA equivalent would be الآن.

صار literally means became or turned into.

So:

• كان غالي = it was expensive
• صار رخيص = it became cheap

That means صار highlights a change of state. The speaker is not just describing the present; they are showing that something changed from one condition to another.

So this sentence is stronger than just saying:

• بس هلا رخيص = but now it’s cheap

Using صار makes the contrast clearer: it used to be one way, and then it changed.

Because they are masculine singular adjectives, and they agree with المحل, which is masculine singular.

So:

• محل → غالي / رخيص
• a feminine noun would usually take:
  • غالية
  • رخيصة

For example:

• البضاعة كانت غالية، بس هلا صارت رخيصة

So the adjective form changes to match the noun.

Here, قبل means before or earlier.

In this sentence, it works like an adverb of time:

• كان غالي قبل = it was expensive before

So قبل tells you that the first part describes an earlier time.

Because Arabic often leaves out repeated subjects when they are already clear from context.

After المحل كان غالي قبل, the listener already knows what you are talking about. So in:

• بس هلا صار رخيص

the subject is understood to still be المحل.

English does this too sometimes, but Arabic is often even more comfortable dropping repeated elements when the meaning is obvious.

You could repeat it, but you do not need to:

• بس هلا المحل صار رخيص
• بس هلا صار المحل رخيص

The original version sounds natural and efficient.

A helpful rough pronunciation is:

il-maḥall kān ghāli ʔabel, bas halla ṣār rakhīṣ

A few sound notes:

• ح in المحل is a stronger, breathier h
• غ in غالي is a deep throat sound, somewhat like a French-style r
• خ in رخيص is like ch in German Bach or Scottish loch
• ص in رخيص is an emphatic s

Pronunciation varies by region, especially in words like قبل, which may sound a bit different depending on the speaker.

The given word order is natural, but Arabic has some flexibility.

This version:

• المحل كان غالي قبل، بس هلا صار رخيص

is very normal.

You might also hear something like:

• قبل كان المحل غالي، بس هلا صار رخيص

That puts more emphasis on before at the beginning.

So the exact order can shift a little, but the original sentence is perfectly natural Levantine.