بعد التمرين والسباحة، رجعت عالبيت وحضرت فيلم قصير قبل ما نام.

A common Levantine-style pronunciation would be something like:

baʿd et-tamrīn w-es-sbāḥa, rjeʿt ʿal-bēt w-ḥaḍḍart film ʾaṣīr ʾabl ma nām

A few notes:

• بعد = baʿd
• التمرين is usually pronounced et-tamrīn, not al-tamrīn
• السباحة is usually pronounced es-sbāḥa
• رجعت may sound like rjeʿt or rajaʿt, depending on region/speaker
• عالبيت sounds like ʿal-bēt
• قبل is often ʾabl in speech
• نام here is nām

Exact pronunciation varies across Levantine varieties, but this is a very natural general guide.

Because ت and س are sun letters.

In Arabic, when ال comes before a sun letter, the l sound assimilates to the next consonant. So:

• التمرين → pronounced et-tamrīn
• السباحة → pronounced es-sbāḥa

The spelling stays the same, but the pronunciation changes.

This happens in both Standard Arabic and dialects, though the vowel quality may differ a bit in Levantine.

رجعت means I returned or I went back.

It comes from the verb رجع = to return / go back.

Here it is in the past tense, first person singular:

• رجع = he returned
• رجعت = I returned / you returned

In the past tense, رجعت can mean I returned or you returned depending on context, but here the context clearly gives I returned.

Because Arabic verbs already include the subject.

So:

• رجعت already means I returned
• حضرت already means I watched
• نام here means I sleep in this structure

Unlike English, Arabic often does not need an explicit subject pronoun like I unless you want emphasis or contrast.

So saying أنا here would usually be unnecessary.

عالبيت is a very common colloquial contraction.

It is basically:

• عَ = shortened colloquial form of على
• البيت = the house / home

So:

• عَ + البيت → عالبيت

In Levantine, عالبيت often means home or to the house depending on context. In this sentence, رجعت عالبيت means I went back home.

This is very natural in speech. A more formal version would be different, but عالبيت is exactly the kind of thing learners should get used to in dialect.

In Arabic, just like in English, house and home can overlap depending on context.

So البيت literally means the house, but in many everyday situations it naturally means home.

For example:

• روحت عالبيت = I went home
• رجعت عالبيت = I returned home

This is a very common usage. You do not need a separate special word every time you want to say home.

Great question — this is a very common point of confusion.

In Levantine, حضر often means to attend or to watch depending on the object.

So:

• حضرت فيلم = I watched a film
• حضرت حفلة = I attended a party/event

The verb for prepare is usually a different verb, such as:

• حضّر with shadda can mean to prepare
• for example: حضّرت الأكل = I prepared the food

So context matters a lot.

In your sentence, because the object is فيلم, the meaning is clearly watched.

Because adjectives in Arabic agree with the noun they describe.

فيلم is a masculine singular noun, so the adjective must also be masculine singular:

• فيلم قصير = a short film

If the noun were feminine, the adjective would be feminine too:

• قصة قصيرة = a short story

So قصير matches فيلم correctly.

In Levantine, قبل ما is a very common way to say before followed by a verb.

So:

• قبل ما نام = before I sleep / before going to sleep

This is one of the most useful everyday patterns in spoken Arabic.

Compare:

• قبل ما روح = before I go
• قبل ما آكل = before I eat
• قبل ما نبلش = before we start

The ما here is part of the conjunction-like pattern قبل ما and does not mean not.

Because after expressions like قبل ما, Levantine often uses the verb without the present-tense بـ prefix.

So in ordinary statements:

• بنام = I sleep / I usually sleep / I am sleeping

But after قبل ما:

• قبل ما نام = before I sleep

This is very normal in Levantine subordinate clauses.

You can think of it as a special environment where the verb often appears in a bare non-past form without بـ.

Arabic very naturally uses و = and to link items and actions.

Here it links:

• التمرين والسباحة = the exercise and the swimming
• رجعت عالبيت وحضرت فيلم = I returned home and watched a film

Using و this way is completely natural. In English, we sometimes vary the style more, but in Arabic repeated و is extremely common and does not sound clumsy.

So this sentence sounds normal as it is.

Yes.

A more formal / Standard Arabic equivalent would be something like:

• قبل أن أنام

But in Levantine everyday speech, قبل ما نام is much more natural.

So:

• قبل أن أنام = formal / MSA
• قبل ما نام = colloquial Levantine

If your goal is spoken Levantine, the version in your sentence is the one you want to learn first.