لما في شمس، منقعد عالسطح ونشرب شاي.

Here لما means when or whenever. It introduces a situation that leads to the main action.

So لما في شمس is basically when there is sun / when it’s sunny.

In context like this, it often has a habitual sense:

• Whenever it’s sunny, we sit on the roof and drink tea.

In this sentence, في does not mean in. It is the existential there is / there are.

So:

• في شمس = there is sun / there’s sunshine

This is a very common Levantine use of في.

Compare:

• في ناس هون = There are people here
• في وقت = There is time

Because in Arabic dialects, the present-tense verb to be is usually not said.

English says:

• it is sunny

Levantine often says something more like:

• there is sun
• or simply a noun/adjective phrase without is

So لما في شمس is totally normal Levantine.

After existential في, Arabic usually uses an indefinite noun when introducing the existence of something.

So:

• في شمس = there is sun / sunshine

If you say في الشمس, that usually means in the sun, because في would then be understood as the preposition in.

So the lack of الـ is important here.

Most naturally, it sounds habitual or general:

• When it’s sunny, we sit on the roof and drink tea.

So it describes something people generally do in that situation, not necessarily what they are doing at this exact moment.

منقعد comes from قعد, which basically means to sit.

In Levantine, قعد can sometimes also mean:

• stay
• remain
• hang around

In this sentence, منقعد عالسطح means something like:

• we sit on the roof
• or more naturally, we hang out on the roof

So it can suggest sitting, spending time, relaxing there.

Because the verb itself already tells you the subject.

منقعد already means we sit and نشرب / منشرب means we drink.

You could add نحنا for emphasis:

• نحنا منقعد عالسطح

But it is not necessary. Arabic often leaves subject pronouns unstated unless they are needed for emphasis or contrast.

That is a very good question, because learners do notice this.

In strongly colloquial Levantine, many speakers would expect:

• منقعد عالسطح ومنشرب شاي

So ومنشرب is a very natural fully colloquial match.

Writing ونشرب is also common in informal text because dialect spelling is not standardized, and writers often mix:

• more colloquial spelling
• and more standard-looking spelling

So this sentence is understandable and common as written, but a learner should know that ومنشرب is also very natural, and in some contexts even more purely dialectal.

عالسطح is a contraction of:

• على السطح = on the roof

In fast everyday speech, على الـ often gets shortened to عالـ.

So:

• على السطح → عالسطح

This kind of contraction is extremely common in Levantine.

It is pronounced roughly like:

• ʿas-saṭeḥ or ʿa s-saṭeḥ

The important thing is that س is a sun letter, so the ل of الـ is not pronounced separately.

So السطح sounds like:

• as-saṭeḥ, not al-saṭeḥ

That is why عالسطح sounds smoother than the spelling may suggest.

It can mean roof, but in Levantine everyday life it often suggests a flat rooftop area that people can actually use.

So منقعد عالسطح may sound very natural in places where people go up to the roof to sit, relax, dry clothes, or enjoy the weather.

Depending on context, English might translate it as:

• on the roof
• up on the rooftop

Yes, you could, but the nuance shifts a little.

• لما في شمس = when/whenever there’s sun
• إذا في شمس = if there’s sun

In a sentence about habit, English sometimes translates both similarly. But لما feels more like a recurring situation, while إذا is a more straightforward conditional.

So for a habitual idea like this, لما works very well.

Yes, several things:

• لما in this everyday conversational use
• في meaning there is
• منقعد
• عالسطح instead of fully written على السطح
• no case endings
• an overall spoken, natural word order

So this sentence is clearly everyday Levantine, not formal written Arabic. That is exactly why it is useful to learn.