ما عجبني الفندق لانه بعيد عن البحر.

عجبني means I liked it or more literally it pleased me.

Breakdown:

• عجب = pleased / appealed
• -ني = me

So عجبني الفندق is literally the hotel pleased me, which English naturally expresses as I liked the hotel.

With negation:

• ما عجبني الفندق = I didn’t like the hotel

This verb works differently from English because the thing you like is grammatically the one doing the pleasing.

The ending -ني is an attached object pronoun meaning me.

So:

• عجبني = it pleased me
• عجبك = you liked it / it pleased you
• عجبه = he liked it / it pleased him

In this sentence, -ني shows that me is the person affected: the hotel didn’t please me.

In Levantine, ما often negates a past verb.

So:

• عجبني الفندق = I liked the hotel
• ما عجبني الفندق = I didn’t like the hotel

Here, ما comes before the verb phrase and makes it negative.

A learner should notice that this is very common in spoken Levantine:

• ما فهمت = I didn’t understand
• ما رحت = I didn’t go

Arabic often allows the verb to come before the subject, especially in natural speech.

So:

• ما عجبني الفندق literally looks like didn’t please me the hotel
• but it means I didn’t like the hotel

Here:

• عجب = the verb
• -ني = object me
• الفندق = the subject, the hotel

You can also hear:

• الفندق ما عجبني

That word order is also natural and may feel easier to English speakers because it starts with the topic: the hotel.

Both can work, but they are not exactly the same in feel.

• ما عجبني الفندق = I didn’t like the hotel / the hotel didn’t appeal to me
• ما حبيت الفندق = I didn’t like the hotel

A useful nuance:

• عجبني often sounds like it appealed to me
• حبيت comes from love, but in everyday speech it can also mean liked

So this sentence is very natural, especially when giving an opinion about a place, object, movie, restaurant, and so on.

لانه means because.

In more careful spelling, it is لأنه. In everyday typing, people often leave out the hamza and write لانه.

In spoken Levantine, many speakers would actually say:

• لأنو

So you may see or hear:

• ما عجبني الفندق لأنه بعيد عن البحر
• ما عجبني الفندق لأنو بعيد عن البحر

Both mean the same thing here: because it’s far from the sea.

Arabic often leaves out the verb to be in the present tense.

So:

• هو بعيد literally = he far
• natural English = he is far

In your sentence:

• لانه بعيد عن البحر literally = because it far from the sea
• natural English = because it is far from the sea

This is completely normal in Arabic.

بعيد means far, and عن means from.

Together:

• بعيد عن = far from

So:

• بعيد عن البحر = far from the sea

You generally need عن after بعيد when saying what something is far from.

Examples:

• بعيد عن البيت = far from the house
• بعيد عن الشغل = far from work

Literally, البحر means the sea.

In context, English might sometimes translate it more naturally as the beach or the seaside, depending on what is meant. But the literal word here is sea.

So:

• بعيد عن البحر literally = far from the sea
• in hotel talk, English speakers might sometimes understand it as far from the beach/coast

الفندق means the hotel.

The prefix الـ is the Arabic definite article, equivalent to the.

So:

• فندق = a hotel / hotel
• الفندق = the hotel

In this sentence, the speaker is talking about a specific hotel, so الفندق makes sense.

A common pronunciation would be something like:

ma ʿajabni l-funduʔ laʔanno bʿiid ʿan il-baḥer

A few notes:

• الفندق is often pronounced l-funduʔ
• لأنه in speech is often laʔanno or laanno
• البحر in Levantine is often pronounced closer to il-baḥer

You do not need to pronounce it exactly this way at first, but it helps to recognize these spoken forms.

Yes, absolutely.

Both are natural:

• ما عجبني الفندق لأنه بعيد عن البحر
• الفندق ما عجبني لأنه بعيد عن البحر

The difference is mostly emphasis and word order:

• starting with ما عجبني puts the opinion first
• starting with الفندق puts the hotel itself first as the topic

Both mean:

• I didn’t like the hotel because it’s far from the sea

It feels a bit mixed, but still very understandable.

Why?

• ما عجبني
• الفندق
• بعيد عن البحر

These are all fine in Levantine.

But لأنه is slightly more standard-looking in writing. In very everyday Levantine, many people would write or say:

• لأنو

So a very colloquial Levantine version might be:

• ما عجبني الفندق لأنو بعيد عن البحر

That is probably what many learners will hear most often in conversation.