بعد الغدا اكلت بطاطا وشربت عصير برتقال.

Because Arabic verbs usually already tell you who did the action.

In اكلت and شربت, the ending -ت can mark I in the past tense, so أنا is not necessary. Arabic often drops subject pronouns when they are already clear from the verb.

So this is normal and natural:

• اكلت = I ate
• شربت = I drank

If you add أنا, it usually gives extra emphasis:

• أنا اكلت بطاطا = I ate potatoes

On its own, the spelling اكلت can be ambiguous in informal Arabic writing, because short vowels are not written.

Depending on context, it could be understood as:

• I ate
• you ate (masculine singular, in many dialect contexts)

So how do you know it means I ate here?

• the meaning has already been given
• the sentence context supports it
• in real speech, pronunciation and situation usually make it clear
• if a speaker wants to be extra clear, they can add أنا

This kind of ambiguity is very common in unvoweled Arabic writing.

In Levantine, meal words are very often used with ال:

• الغدا = lunch
• العشا = dinner

So بعد الغدا is the normal everyday way to say after lunch.

English often has no article in expressions like after lunch, but Arabic commonly does use one here. That is one of those places where Arabic and English do not match word-for-word.

Also, بعد غدا without ال could be confusing, because in more formal Arabic بعد غد means the day after tomorrow.

Yes, basically.

• الغداء is the more standard / MSA spelling
• الغدا is a common colloquial Levantine spelling

In dialect writing, people often simplify spelling, especially with final hamza. So a learner should recognize that الغدا is the colloquial written form of الغداء.

In this sentence, it means lunch, not tomorrow.

Because informal dialect writing often does not write hamza very carefully.

So:

• اكلت and أكلت represent the same word here

This is extremely common in texting, chat, and everyday dialect writing. Levantine writing is much less standardized than formal Arabic, so you will often see simplified spellings.

The same idea applies to other words too: people may write the pronunciation in a relaxed way instead of following strict MSA spelling rules.

Both exist, but they are used in different regions.

In Levantine, بطاطا is the normal everyday word for potatoes.

By contrast:

• بطاطس is especially common in Egypt
• in formal Arabic, you may also encounter بطاطس

So if you are learning Levantine, بطاطا is exactly the word you would expect.

In a sentence like this, بطاطا usually means potatoes or some potato/potato dish in a general food sense.

Food words in Arabic often work more like mass nouns in English:

• اكلت رز = I ate rice
• اكلت لحم = I ate meat
• اكلت بطاطا = I ate potatoes / some potato

If you want to be very specific about one potato, you would usually say something like:

• حبة بطاطا = one potato

So here, the bare noun sounds natural.

This is a very common Arabic noun-to-noun structure.

عصير برتقال literally works like:

• juice + orange

In natural English, that becomes orange juice.

Why no ال on برتقال? Because this is an indefinite expression meaning orange juice in general, not a specific already-known orange.

Compare:

• عصير برتقال = orange juice
• عصير تفاح = apple juice
• عصير ليمون = lemon juice

This pattern is very common in Arabic, especially with foods and drinks.

Usually no, not for the normal way of naming the drink.

In Arabic, the most natural way is the noun-to-noun structure:

• عصير برتقال

Using من would sound different and more literal, like emphasizing what something is made from. For naming common drinks, flavors, and types, Arabic normally prefers the simple noun combination without من.

So for a learner, the best pattern to remember is:

• عصير + noun
• شوربة + noun
• سلطة + noun

Yes, the word order is natural.

Starting with بعد الغدا sets the time first:

• بعد الغدا اكلت بطاطا وشربت عصير برتقال

That is very normal in Arabic.

But Arabic word order is flexible, so you could also move the time phrase:

• اكلت بطاطا وشربت عصير برتقال بعد الغدا

The difference is mostly about focus:

• sentence-initial بعد الغدا emphasizes the time frame
• sentence-final بعد الغدا sounds a bit more like an added detail

Both are understandable and natural.

Because و simply means and, and Arabic very often links actions this way.

So:

• اكلت بطاطا = I ate potatoes
• وشربت عصير برتقال = and drank orange juice

Arabic does not need to repeat the subject if it stays the same. English might say I ate potatoes and drank orange juice, and Arabic works the same way here.

This kind of chaining with و is one of the most common sentence patterns in Arabic.