لما دخلت عالبيت، شفت امي بالمطبخ.

Here لما means when. It introduces the time clause:

لما دخلت عالبيت = when I entered the house / when I got home

In Levantine, لما is very common in everyday speech for past-time narration. Depending on context, it can feel like when, once, or as soon as.

Because Arabic verbs usually already show the subject.

So instead of saying أنا دخلت and أنا شفت, speakers often just say:

• دخلت = I entered
• شفت = I saw

Adding أنا is possible, but it usually adds emphasis or contrast, like I entered, not someone else.

In unvowelled colloquial writing, these forms can be ambiguous.

For example:

• دخلت can represent I entered, you entered (masculine), or she entered, depending on pronunciation and context.
• شفت can represent I saw or you saw (masculine) in many Levantine varieties.

So the meaning is often understood from:

• context
• who is speaking
• pronunciation
• or an added pronoun if needed

In your sentence, the intended meaning is I entered and I saw.

Because this is a very common Levantine contraction.

• على + البيت becomes
• عالبيت

This happens a lot in speech and informal writing. So عالبيت is just the natural colloquial form of على البيت.

That is a good example of Arabic and English not matching word-for-word.

In Levantine, speakers often use a preposition with movement toward a place, so دخل عالبيت is a natural colloquial way to say:

• entered the house
• went into the house
• sometimes even came home, depending on context

You may also hear دخل البيت, but دخل عالبيت is very normal in spoken Levantine.

It can mean either one.

In this sentence, البيت could be understood as:

• the house
• home

If the speaker is talking about their own place, English often sounds more natural with home. If the focus is on the physical building, the house works too.

امي means my mother.

It is made from:

• أم / إم = mother
• ـي = my

So:

• أمي / امي = my mother

In actual Levantine pronunciation, this is often said more like emmi or immi, depending on the dialect.

Because informal Levantine writing often simplifies spelling.

So:

• أمي and
• امي

are both understood as the same word.

In texting, subtitles, and casual writing, people often leave out hamza and other spelling details. That does not usually cause confusion for native speakers.

In Levantine, بـ very often means in or at.

So:

• بالمطبخ = in the kitchen

It is made from:

• بـ = in / at
• ال = the
• مطبخ = kitchen

So بـ + ال becomes بالـ.

You can also hear في المطبخ, and it is perfectly understandable, but بالمطبخ sounds very natural in everyday Levantine.

Yes, very natural.

The pattern is:

• time clause first: لما دخلت عالبيت
• main action second: شفت امي بالمطبخ

This is a very common storytelling structure in Levantine:

When X happened, I did/saw Y.

Yes, it is clearly colloquial.

Clues include:

• لما as a conversational when
• شفت instead of a formal verb like رأيت
• contractions like عالبيت and بالمطبخ
• casual spelling like امي

A more formal MSA version would be something like:

عندما دخلتُ البيتَ، رأيتُ أمي في المطبخ.

A rough Levantine-style pronunciation would be:

lamma dakhalt ʿal-bēt, sheft emmi bil-maṭbakh

A few notes:

• عالبيت is usually said like ʿal-bēt
• امي is often pronounced emmi
• بالمطبخ is often said like bil-maṭbakh

Exact vowels vary across Syrian, Lebanese, Palestinian, and Jordanian varieties, but that rough pronunciation will help you hear the sentence more naturally.