بعد ما اخدت الدوا، ما عاد عندي وجع راس.

In this sentence, بعد ما means after or after/as soon as before a completed action.

So:

• بعد ما اخدت الدوا = after I took the medicine

Even though ما often means not, here it is not negative. In Levantine, بعد ما + past verb is a very common way to say after doing something.

A close comparison:

• بعد ما وصلت، اتصلت فيك = After I arrived, I called you.

So in this sentence, بعد ما is just a time expression.

Because this is colloquial Levantine, not Modern Standard Arabic.

In Levantine, many words are pronounced in a simpler, more conversational way:

• MSA: أخذت
• Levantine: اخدت or often even خدت

So اخدت الدوا means I took the medicine.

A few notes:

• The root is still the same: أ خ ذ
• In speech, the middle hamza-heavy structure gets simplified
• Many speakers say خدت more often than اخدت

So this is a normal dialect form, not a mistake.

Again, this is a dialect feature.

In Levantine, الدواء from MSA usually becomes الدوا in everyday speech.

So:

• MSA: الدواء
• Levantine: الدوا

The meaning is the same: the medicine.

This shortening happens a lot in spoken Arabic, especially when a final hamza in MSA disappears or gets smoothed out in dialect pronunciation.

ما عاد means no longer, not anymore, or not any longer.

So:

• ما عاد عندي وجع راس = I don’t have a headache anymore

This is a very common Levantine expression.

You can use ما عاد with many kinds of sentences:

• ما عاد بدي = I don’t want anymore
• ما عاد في = there isn’t anymore
• ما عاد اشتغل هون = I don’t work here anymore

It often gives the idea that something used to be true, but now it isn’t.

Great question. They look the same, but they do different jobs.

1. In بعد ما اخدت الدوا, the ما is part of the expression بعد ما, meaning after.
2. In ما عاد عندي وجع راس, the ما is part of the negative expression ما عاد, meaning no longer / not anymore.

So the first ما is not negation, but the second one is.

That kind of overlap is very common in Arabic: the same little word can have different functions depending on the expression.

Arabic usually does not use a normal verb equivalent to English have in sentences like this.

Instead, Levantine often uses عند + a pronoun suffix.

So:

• عندي = literally at me
• but in natural English: I have

In this sentence:

• عندي وجع راس = I have a headache

This structure is extremely common:

• عندي سيارة = I have a car
• عندك وقت؟ = Do you have time?
• عندهم ولاد = They have children

So the Arabic idea is more like there is X at me rather than I have X.

وجع راس is a very natural colloquial way to say headache in Levantine.

Literally it is:

• وجع = pain/ache
• راس = head

So word-for-word it is something like head pain.

Why no ال on راس?

Because in dialect, these kinds of expressions often work like compact everyday compounds:

• وجع راس = headache
• وجع بطن = stomachache
• وجع ضهر = back pain

You may also hear:

• صداع = headache, but this sounds more formal or medical
• براسي وجع / عندي وجع براسي = I have pain in my head

So وجع راس is very normal and conversational.

Because Arabic does not have an indefinite article like English a/an.

So:

• وجع راس can mean a headache
• كتاب can mean a book
• بيت can mean a house

Whether it is definite or indefinite comes from context, word form, and sometimes the presence or absence of الـ.

Here:

• وجع راس = an indefinite condition, a headache
• الدوا = definite, the medicine

It is very natural, but there are other common ways too.

For example:

• ما عاد عندي وجع راس = I don’t have a headache anymore
• راح وجع الراس = The headache went away
• بطّل عندي وجع راس = I stopped having a headache
• ما عاد راسي يوجعني = My head doesn’t hurt anymore

These are all natural, but the original sentence is clear and idiomatic.

A more formal / MSA version would be something like:

• بعدما أخذتُ الدواء، لم يعد لديّ صداع.

Comparing the two:

• Levantine: بعد ما اخدت الدوا، ما عاد عندي وجع راس.
• MSA: بعدما أخذتُ الدواء، لم يعد لديّ صداع.

Main differences:

• اخدت → أخذتُ
• الدوا → الدواء
• ما عاد → لم يعد
• عندي → لديّ
• وجع راس → صداع

Yes. The MSA word is رأس, but in Levantine it is usually pronounced راس.

So:

• MSA: رأس
• Levantine: راس

This is very common in dialect speech: the hamza often disappears or is smoothed out.

You will hear:

• راس = head
• فاس instead of a more hamza-heavy form in some words
• سال instead of سأل in some dialect pronunciations, depending on region and word

So وجع راس is exactly what you would expect in spoken Levantine.

It can be used very broadly, not just with verbs.

Examples:

• ما عاد عندي وقت = I don’t have time anymore
• ما عاد هو هون = He’s not here anymore
• ما عاد تعبان = He’s not tired anymore
• ما عاد بدي آكل = I don’t want to eat anymore

So in your sentence, ما عاد works perfectly before the phrase عندي وجع راس.

Yes, many speakers would say that too.

Compare:

• ما عاد عندي وجع راس
• ما عاد في عندي وجع راس

Both can mean I don’t have a headache anymore.

The version without في is a bit simpler and very common.
The version with في can feel a little more like there is no longer, at me, a headache.

In everyday conversation, both are understandable and natural, though ما عاد عندي وجع راس is very straightforward and idiomatic.

It breaks down like this:

• بعد ما اخدت الدوا = after I took the medicine
• ما عاد عندي وجع راس = I no longer have a headache

So the structure is:

time clause + main clause

More literally:

• After I took the medicine, no longer at-me head-pain.

Natural English:

• After I took the medicine, I didn’t have a headache anymore.
• or more naturally: After I took the medicine, my headache went away.

This is a very typical Levantine sentence pattern: a time expression first, then the result.