طفي المكيف قبل ما تطلع من البيت.

As written, it is most naturally addressed to one man.

The clue is the verb تطلع here after قبل ما, which matches you masculine singular in Levantine.

Arabic often does not need to say the word you explicitly, because the verb form already shows who is being addressed.

طفي is the imperative form, so it means turn off!

In Levantine, طفى / يطفي is used for turning something off or putting something out, such as:

• طفّي الضو = turn off the light
• طفّي التلفزيون = turn off the TV
• طفّي المكيّف = turn off the AC

You may also see it written as طفّي with a shadda, to show the doubled f sound. In everyday informal writing, that shadda is often left out.

المكيف means the air conditioner.

In Levantine speech, it is commonly pronounced something like il-mkayyef or el-mkayyef, depending on the region.

So the phrase طفي المكيف is a very natural way to say turn off the AC.

قبل ما is a very common Levantine way to say before.

So:

• قبل ما تطلع = before you leave / before you go out

This structure is extremely common in spoken Arabic. After قبل ما, Levantine usually uses a present-tense verb form, even though the whole meaning in English may sound like before you leave.

Yes — in this context, تطلع means leave or go out.

The verb طلع has several meanings depending on context, including:

• go up
• come out
• appear
• go out / leave

With من البيت, the meaning is clearly leave the house / go out of the house.

So here:

• قبل ما تطلع من البيت = before you leave the house

Yes, literally it is from the house.

But in natural English, that usually becomes leave the house or leave home.

Arabic often uses البيت in places where English might say home. So من البيت sounds completely normal here.

A useful pronunciation guide is:

taffi l-mkayyef abel ma tetlaʿ mn il-bēt

A few notes:

• ط is a heavier, emphatic t
• ع at the end of تطلع is a throat sound with no exact English equivalent
• قبل may sound like abel in some urban Levantine varieties, because ق is often pronounced as a glottal stop
• In other accents, you may hear qabel or qabl

So you will hear small regional differences, but they all mean the same thing.

To one woman:

طفّي المكيّف قبل ما تطلعي من البيت

To more than one person:

طفّوا المكيّف قبل ما تطلعوا من البيت

The main change is in the verb endings:

• masculine singular: تطلع
• feminine singular: تطلعي
• plural: تطلعوا

Not necessarily.

In Arabic, the imperative is very common for:

• reminders
• instructions
• household requests
• parents speaking to children
• signs and notices

So طفي المكيف قبل ما تطلع من البيت can sound perfectly normal, especially as a reminder.

If you want to make it softer, you could say something like:

ممكن تطفي المكيف قبل ما تطلع من البيت؟
= Could you turn off the AC before you leave the house?

or add لو سمحت:

طفّي المكيّف لو سمحت قبل ما تطلع من البيت
= Please turn off the AC before you leave the house

A Modern Standard Arabic version would be:

أطفئ المكيّف قبل أن تخرج من البيت

The Levantine sentence is different in a few important ways:

• طفي instead of أطفئ
• قبل ما instead of قبل أن
• تطلع instead of تخرج

So the Levantine version sounds natural and everyday, while the MSA version sounds formal or written.