ريحة الزيت بالمطبخ مو منيحة، بس طعمة الاكل منيحة اكتر من مبارح.

A natural pronunciation would be something like:

rīḥet iz-zēt bil-matbakh mū mnīḥa, bas ṭaʿmet l-akel mnīḥa aktar min mbāreḥ.

A few notes:

• الزيت is usually pronounced iz-zēt because of sound assimilation.
• بالمطبخ sounds like bil-matbakh.
• ريحة and طعمة sound like rīḥet and ṭaʿmet here because they are linked to the following noun.

Different parts of the Levant will pronounce it a little differently, but this is a good general model.

Because they are in a linked noun phrase, called an iḍāfa construction.

When a word ending in ـة is followed directly by another noun, that ending is often pronounced -et in Levantine:

• ريحة on its own: rīḥa
• ريحة الزيت: rīḥet iz-zēt

And similarly:

• طعمة on its own: ṭaʿma
• طعمة الأكل: ṭaʿmet l-akel

So the spelling stays the same, but the pronunciation changes when the word is connected to another noun.

Because ز is a sun letter. In Arabic, when الـ comes before a sun letter, the l sound of ال assimilates to the next consonant.

So:

• الزيت is pronounced roughly as
• iz-zēt or ez-zēt

But with a moon letter, the l is kept. For example:

• المطبخ → il-matbakh / el-matbakh

This is a pronunciation rule, not a spelling change.

Because this is an iḍāfa phrase, which is how Arabic says the smell of the oil.

In an iḍāfa:

• the first noun usually does not take الـ
• the second noun can be definite
• the whole phrase becomes definite because of the second noun

So:

• ريحة الزيت = the smell of the oil
• طعمة الاكل = the taste of the food

This is very different from English word order, so it is something learners need to get used to.

Because both nouns it describes are feminine:

• ريحة is feminine
• طعمة is feminine

In Arabic, adjectives agree with the noun in gender and number, so you get:

• ريحة ... منيحة
• طعمة ... منيحة

If the noun were masculine, you would normally use منيح instead. For example:

• الأكل منيح = the food is good

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

So instead of saying something literally like:

• the smell of the oil in the kitchen is not good

Levantine just says:

• ريحة الزيت بالمطبخ مو منيحة

Literally, that is closer to:

• the smell of the oil in the kitchen not good

This is completely normal in Arabic present-tense sentences.

بالمطبخ means in the kitchen or in the kitchen area.

It is made of:

• بـ = in / at
• المطبخ = the kitchen

So:

• بالمطبخ = in the kitchen

You could also hear في المطبخ, which also means in the kitchen. In Levantine, بـ is extremely common for location, so بالمطبخ sounds very natural.

Yes, in many Levantine varieties you can also say مش.

So both of these are possible:

• مو منيحة
• مش منيحة

Both mean not good.

Very roughly:

• مو is especially common in much of Syrian and Lebanese speech
• مش is also widespread and very common across the Levant

The exact preference depends on region, speaker, and style.

Here, بس means but.

So the sentence has two parts:

• ريحة الزيت بالمطبخ مو منيحة
• بس طعمة الاكل منيحة اكتر من مبارح

Together, بس connects them with contrast:

• the smell is bad,
• but the taste is better than yesterday.

Be aware that بس can also mean only / just, depending on context.

They are related, but not exactly identical in usage.

• طعم is a very common word for taste or flavor
• طعمة is also used colloquially for taste/flavor, especially in phrases like طعمة الأكل

In everyday Levantine, both can be heard. For example:

• طعم الأكل منيح
• طعمة الأكل منيحة

Because طعمة is feminine, it takes منيحة. Because طعم is masculine, it would take منيح.

So part of the difference here is grammatical as well as lexical.

Literally, اكتر من مبارح means more than yesterday.

In context, the meaning is:

• the taste is better than it was yesterday

Arabic often leaves part of the comparison understood. So instead of spelling out the full idea, it simply says:

• منيحة اكتر من مبارح

You can think of it as:

• good more than yesterday
• natural English: better than yesterday

Also:

• مبارح is the common Levantine word for yesterday
• in Standard Arabic, you would more likely see أمس

Because informal Levantine writing often simplifies spelling, especially with hamza.

So:

• الأكل is the more standard spelling
• الاكل is a very common informal spelling online and in messages

Both refer to the same word: food.

This is normal in dialect writing, because colloquial Arabic spelling is much less standardized than Modern Standard Arabic.