اخي ساكن بشقة قريبة من الجامعة.

In Arabic, especially in the present tense, you usually do not say a separate word for is / am / are.

So:

• اخي ساكن = My brother is living / lives
• literally: my brother living

This is very normal in both Standard Arabic and Levantine. Arabic often uses a noun + adjective/participle structure instead of adding a present-tense to be verb.

If you wanted the past, then you would use a verb, for example:

• أخي كان ساكن... = My brother was living...

اخي means my brother.

It comes from:

• أخ = brother
• ـي = my

So:

• أخ → brother
• أخي → my brother

In normal writing, you may also see it written as أخي with a hamza on the alif. In casual Arabic typing, people often leave the hamza off and write اخي.

A common pronunciation would be something like akhii.

Notes:

• خ is the throaty sound like German ch in Bach or Scottish loch
• the final ـي is a long ee sound

So a rough pronunciation of the whole beginning is:

• أخي ساكن ≈ akhii saaken

In everyday Levantine, people may also use other forms for my brother depending on region and style, but أخي is understandable and straightforward.

ساكن literally means living, residing, or inhabiting.

Grammatically, it is an active participle, not a finite verb. But in Arabic, active participles are often used like adjectives or present-state expressions.

So:

• أخي ساكن بشقة... means
• My brother lives in an apartment... or
• My brother is living in an apartment...

This is very common in Levantine. Instead of using a verb like يسكن in many situations, speakers often use ساكن to describe someone’s state or situation.

Yes. That would also be natural in Levantine.

Compare:

• أخي ساكن بشقة قريبة من الجامعة
• أخي بيسكن بشقة قريبة من الجامعة

Both can mean My brother lives in an apartment near the university.

The difference is roughly:

• ساكن focuses on the current state/situation: he is living / he lives
• بيسكن is the regular present-tense verb: he lives

In many everyday contexts, both work fine.

Here, بـ means in.

So:

• شقة = apartment
• بشقة = in an apartment

This is very common in Levantine. The preposition بـ often covers meanings like:

• in
• at
• sometimes with depending on context

Here it clearly means in.

In Levantine, بـ is very commonly used where English would use in or at.

So:

• بشقة = in an apartment

You could sometimes hear في شقة in some contexts, but بشقة sounds very natural and typical in Levantine speech.

So this sentence is using a very common colloquial pattern:

• ساكن بشقة = living in an apartment

Because it describes شقة (apartment), and شقة is a feminine noun.

So the adjective has to agree with it:

• شقة قريبة = a near apartment / an apartment that is near
• not شقة قريب

Agreement in Arabic usually means matching in:

• gender
• number
• definiteness, depending on structure

Since شقة is feminine singular, the adjective is feminine singular:

• قريبة

Literally, it means:

• قريبة = near
• من = from
• الجامعة = the university

So word-for-word:

• near from the university

But in natural English, we say:

• near the university

Arabic commonly uses قريب من / قريبة من for near.

Examples:

• البيت قريب من السوق = The house is near the market
• الشقة قريبة من الجامعة = The apartment is near the university

Because in Arabic, قريب and قريبة normally take the preposition من when you say what something is near.

So the pattern is:

• قريب من...
• قريبة من...

Examples:

• قريب من البيت = near the house
• قريبة من الجامعة = near the university

Even though English just says near the university, Arabic prefers near from the university structurally.

Because it means the university, not just a university.

So:

• جامعة = a university / university
• الجامعة = the university

If the meaning is a specific university known from context, Arabic uses الـ.

In this sentence:

• قريبة من الجامعة means
• near the university

Because the sentence means in an apartment, not in the apartment.

So:

• شقة = an apartment
• الشقة = the apartment

The sentence is describing the type of place he lives in, not pointing to a specific already-known apartment.

That is why you get:

• بشقة قريبة من الجامعة = in an apartment near the university

Because شقة is indefinite, so its adjective is also indefinite.

In Arabic, adjectives usually match the noun in definiteness:

• شقة قريبة = an apartment near...
• الشقة القريبة = the nearby apartment

So in your sentence:

• شقة is indefinite
• therefore قريبة is also indefinite

This is a very important pattern in Arabic.

It is a nominal sentence.

It starts with a noun:

• اخي = my brother

Then it gives information about him:

• ساكن بشقة قريبة من الجامعة

So the basic structure is:

• subject: اخي
• predicate: ساكن بشقة قريبة من الجامعة

Even though English might use a verb like lives, Arabic is not building this as a normal present-tense verb sentence here.

A rough breakdown is:

• اخي = my brother
• ساكن = living / residing
• بشقة = in an apartment
• قريبة = near
• من = from
• الجامعة = the university

So very literally:

• My brother [is] living in-an-apartment near from the-university

Natural English:

• My brother lives in an apartment near the university.

It is quite natural and easy to understand.

The specifically colloquial-feeling parts are things like:

• using no present-tense is
• using ساكن to express lives / is living
• using بـ in بشقة

So overall, it sounds like a normal everyday Levantine-style sentence, even if the exact pronunciation may vary by region.