صديقتي عم تقرا رواية لكاتب جديد، وقالتلي انو هاد الكاتب منيح.

Literally, صديقتي means my female friend.

It can sometimes mean my girlfriend in a romantic sense, but that depends entirely on context. On its own, it does not automatically mean romantic partner.

Breakdown:

• صديقة = female friend
• -ي = my

So:

• صديقتي = my female friend
• صديقي = my male friend

Because in Levantine, subject-first word order is very common, especially in everyday speech.

So:

• صديقتي عم تقرا = My friend is reading

This feels very natural in conversation.

Arabic can also use verb-first order, but in colloquial Levantine, starting with the subject is extremely common when you are introducing the topic.

عم is a very common Levantine marker used to show an action is in progress.

So:

• عم تقرا = is reading
• عم يكتب = is writing
• عم ناكل = are eating

It works a lot like English be + -ing.

In this sentence:

• صديقتي عم تقرا = My friend is reading

In Levantine Arabic, the imperfect verb for she often begins with تـ.

So:

• هي تقرا or هي بتقرا = she reads / she is reading
• هو يقرا or هو بيقرا = he reads / he is reading

That means تقرا here is the correct form for she reads / she is reading.

A useful thing to remember:

• تـ can mark she
• it can also mark you in some forms, so context matters

Here the subject is صديقتي, so we know it means she is reading.

Both can exist in Levantine, depending on the speaker and region.

You may hear:

• عم تقرا
• عم بتقرا

In many Levantine varieties, after عم, speakers often drop the بـ prefix. So عم تقرا is completely natural.

Very roughly:

• بتقرا = reads / is reading
• عم تقرا = is reading
• عم بتقرا = also heard, with the same general meaning

So the sentence is using a normal colloquial pattern.

Because colloquial Arabic writing is often less strict than Standard Arabic spelling.

In more formal spelling, the verb comes from قرأ. In dialect writing, people often simplify it as:

• قرا
• يقرا
• تقرا

So this is very normal in casual written Levantine.

Also, in many Levantine accents, ق may be pronounced as a glottal stop. So تقرا is often pronounced something like teʔra.

Literally, it is something like:

• رواية = a novel
• لـ = for / by / belonging to, depending on context
• كاتب جديد = a new writer

Here, لـ is being used in the sense of by an author.

So:

• رواية لكاتب جديد = a novel by a new writer

This is a natural way to express authorship in Arabic.

Because in Arabic, adjectives usually come after the noun.

So:

• كاتب جديد = a new writer
• رواية جديدة = a new novel
• الكاتب الجديد = the new writer

Also, the adjective matches the noun in definiteness:

• كاتب جديد = both indefinite
• الكاتب الجديد = both definite

That is why جديد comes after كاتب.

It is made of three parts:

• و = and
• قالت = she said
• لي = to me

So:

• وقالتلي = and she said to me or and she told me

This kind of attachment is very common in Arabic. Pronouns are often added directly to verbs.

Compare:

• قاللي = he said to me
• قالتلها = she said to her
• قلتلكن = I said to you all

انو means that.

It introduces the next clause after a verb like say, think, know, and so on.

So:

• قالتلي انو هاد الكاتب منيح = She told me that this writer is good

This is the colloquial Levantine form. You may also see or hear:

• إنو
• إنه in more formal Arabic

All of these are related, but انو / إنو is very common in spoken Levantine.

هاد means this in Levantine.

So:

• هاد الكاتب = this writer

Even though English might sometimes prefer that writer or just the writer in this kind of context, Levantine often uses هاد naturally to refer back to someone or something just mentioned.

Also note:

• هاد is the Levantine equivalent of Standard Arabic هذا
• هاد الكاتب is often pronounced haad il-kaateb

So this is a very normal colloquial phrase.

منيح is a very common Levantine word meaning:

• good
• fine
• okay
• sometimes well, depending on context

In this sentence:

• هاد الكاتب منيح = This writer is good

It is a colloquial word, not the usual Standard Arabic word جيد.

You will hear منيح all the time in Levantine:

• أنا منيح = I’m fine
• الأكل منيح = the food is good
• بحكي عربي منيح = I speak Arabic well

A rough pronunciation is:

sadii'ti ʿam teʔra riwaaye la-kaateb jdeed, w-'aaletli enno haad il-kaateb mniiḥ

A few notes:

• تقرا often sounds like teʔra
• جديد is often pronounced jdeed
• الكاتب is often pronounced il-kaateb in Levantine
• منيح is often pronounced mniiḥ

So the sentence has a very natural spoken Levantine feel.