كل البيت كان نظيف قبل الزيارة.

Because كل changes its meaning depending on what comes after it:

• كل بيت = every house / each house
• كل البيت = all of the house / the whole house

So when كل is followed by a definite noun like البيت, it usually means the whole or all of that thing.

It is understandable, but many Levantine speakers would more naturally say:

• البيت كله كان نظيف قبل الزيارة

That pattern, noun + كله, is very common in speech for the whole ...:

• البيت كله = the whole house
• المدينة كلها = the whole city

So the given sentence is okay, but البيت كله often sounds more colloquial and natural.

In Arabic, the verb to be is usually not said in the present tense:

• البيت نظيف = the house is clean

But in the past tense, you do use كان:

• البيت كان نظيف = the house was clean

So كان is there because the sentence is talking about a past situation.

Because it agrees with البيت, and بيت is a masculine singular noun.

So:

• بيت → masculine singular
• نظيف → masculine singular adjective

Even though English says the whole house, the main noun is still just one house, so the adjective stays singular.

Because كانت is used with a feminine subject, and البيت is masculine.

Compare:

• البيت كان نظيف = the house was clean
• الغرفة كانت نظيفة = the room was clean

So the form of كان changes according to the gender of the subject.

الزيارة is definite, so قبل الزيارة means before the visit, meaning a specific visit known from context.

If you say قبل زيارة, that sounds more general, like:

• before a visit
• before visiting

So the ال here matters because it makes the noun specific.

Yes. Arabic word order is flexible, though some versions sound more natural than others.

Possible versions include:

• البيت كله كان نظيف قبل الزيارة → very natural in Levantine
• كان البيت كله نظيف قبل الزيارة → also correct, slightly more formal/narrative
• كل البيت كان نظيف قبل الزيارة → understandable, closer to the given wording

The meaning stays basically the same, but the emphasis can shift a little.

A common Levantine-style pronunciation would be something like:

• el-bēt kello kān nḍīf abel ez-ziyāre

If you keep the exact written order, it could sound like:

• kell el-bēt kān nḍīf abel ez-ziyāre

A few useful pronunciation notes:

• البيت often sounds like el-bēt or il-bēt
• كله often sounds like kello
• قبل is often pronounced abel in many Levantine varieties
• زيارة often ends in -e in speech: ziyāre

Because ز is a sun letter, while ب is a moon letter.

That means:

• البيت keeps the l sound: el-bēt
• الزيارة does not keep the l sound in pronunciation; it assimilates and sounds more like ez-ziyāra / ez-ziyāre

So the spelling stays ال, but the pronunciation changes depending on the first letter of the noun.

It sits in a middle area. The words themselves are common in both MSA and Levantine, and Arabic dialects are often written with standard spelling anyway.

What makes it feel less specifically Levantine is that many speakers would more naturally say:

• البيت كله كان نظيف قبل الزيارة

So the sentence is fully understandable to a Levantine speaker, but its wording looks a bit more neutral or standard than strongly colloquial.

Because that is normal in everyday Arabic writing, especially for dialect.

In Levantine speech:

• short vowels are usually not written
• MSA-style case endings like -u, -a, -i are not used in normal conversation

So learners should not expect a spoken Levantine sentence to show full formal grammar endings in writing.