قبل الزيارة، رتبت السرير وحطيت المخدة فوقه.

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Breakdown of قبل الزيارة، رتبت السرير وحطيت المخدة فوقه.

• و: and
• قبل: before
• ه: it

Questions & Answers about قبل الزيارة، رتبت السرير وحطيت المخدة فوقه.

How would a Levantine speaker usually pronounce this sentence?

Something like:

ʔabl iz-ziyāra, rattabet is-srīr w ḥaṭṭēt il-makhadde foʔo.

A few notes:

• قبل can sound like ʔabl or qabl, depending on the speaker and region.
• و is usually pronounced as a short w- attached to the next word.
• Casual Arabic writing usually does not show short vowels, so exact pronunciation can vary a bit.

Why is there no word for I in the sentence?

Because the verbs already show the subject.

• رتبت = I arranged / I tidied
• حطيت = I put

In Arabic, you often do not need to say أنا unless you want emphasis or contrast.

So:

• رتبت السرير already means I made/tidied the bed
• أنا رتبت السرير would mean I made/tidied the bed with extra emphasis on I

What tense are رتبت and حطيت?

They are in the past tense.

Here they describe completed actions:

• رتبت = I arranged / I tidied
• حطيت = I put

So the sentence is talking about something the speaker did before the visit.

Why is حطيت used instead of ?