الكاسة مكسورة، والباب كمان خربان من مبارح.

Breakdown of الكاسة مكسورة، والباب كمان خربان من مبارح.

باب
door
ال
the
كمان
also
و
and
مبارح
yesterday
كاسة
glass
خربان
broken
مكسور
broken
من
since

Questions & Answers about الكاسة مكسورة، والباب كمان خربان من مبارح.

Why is there no word for is in this sentence?

Because in Levantine Arabic, the present tense often uses a nominal sentence with no overt verb to be.

So:

  • الكاسة مكسورة = The cup is broken
  • الباب خربان = The door is broken / damaged

Arabic does not need a separate present-tense is here.

If you wanted the past, you would usually add a form of كان:

  • الكاسة كانت مكسورة = The cup was broken
Why is it مكسورة with ـة, but خربان without it?

Because the adjective or participle agrees with the noun in gender.

  • الكاسة is feminine, so you get مكسورة
  • الباب is masculine, so you get خربان

This kind of agreement is very important in Arabic.

A quick comparison:

  • كاسة مكسورة = a broken cup
  • باب خربان = a broken/damaged door

If the noun changed gender, the adjective would change too:

  • masculine: مكسور
  • feminine: مكسورة
What kind of words are مكسورة and خربان?

They function like adjectives here, but they come from common Arabic patterns often called participles or adjective-like forms.

  • مكسورة literally has the sense of broken
  • خربان means something like ruined, damaged, messed up, not working properly

In everyday Levantine, these forms are extremely common for describing states:

  • مفتوح = open
  • مسكّر = closed
  • تعبان = tired
  • زعلان = upset
  • خربان = broken / damaged

So you can think of them as normal everyday descriptive words.

What is the difference between مكسورة and خربان? Don’t they both mean broken?

They can both relate to the general idea of something being broken, but the nuance is different.

  • مكسور / مكسورة usually suggests something has been physically broken, cracked, smashed, or snapped.
  • خربان is broader. It can mean damaged, ruined, out of order, not functioning right.

So in this sentence:

  • الكاسة مكسورة sounds natural because a cup can literally be cracked or broken.
  • الباب خربان sounds natural because a door might be damaged, jammed, not closing right, or otherwise messed up.

You might hear الباب مكسور, but that would sound more specifically physically broken.

What does كمان mean here?

كمان means also, too, as well.

So:

  • والباب كمان خربان = and the door is also broken/damaged

In Levantine, كمان is very common in speech.

Examples:

  • أنا كمان = me too
  • هي كمان بدها تيجي = she also wants to come
  • الباب كمان خربان = the door is broken too
Why is كمان placed after الباب instead of at the end?

That word order is very natural in Levantine. Putting كمان after the noun often highlights that item as also being included.

So:

  • والباب كمان خربان = and the door too is broken
  • والباب خربان كمان is also possible, but it may sound a little different in emphasis depending on context.

Very roughly:

  • الباب كمان خربان focuses on the door too
  • الباب خربان كمان can feel more like is broken too

Both can exist, but the version in your sentence is very normal.

What does من مبارح mean exactly?

من مبارح means since yesterday.

  • من = from / since
  • مبارح = yesterday

So خربان من مبارح means the door has been in that damaged state since yesterday.

This is a very common Levantine way to express something continuing from a point in time until now.

Examples:

  • أنا هون من مبارح = I’ve been here since yesterday
  • التلفون خربان من الصبح = the phone has been broken since the morning
Why does Levantine use مبارح instead of the word I learned in Standard Arabic for yesterday?

Because this is colloquial Levantine, not Modern Standard Arabic.

In Standard Arabic, you often learn:

  • أمس = yesterday

In Levantine, people much more commonly say:

  • مبارح

So this sentence sounds natural in everyday speech. If you used أمس, it would sound formal or bookish in conversation.

Why is there ال on both nouns: الكاسة and الباب?

Because both nouns are definite: the cup and the door.

  • كاسة = a cup / a glass
  • الكاسة = the cup / the glass
  • باب = a door
  • الباب = the door

In Arabic, definiteness is marked with الـ.

Also note that when an adjective describes a definite noun, the adjective is often understood as definite by agreement in the phrase or sentence context. In a simple sentence like this, الكاسة مكسورة naturally means the cup is broken.

Is كاسة the same as cup, glass, or something else?

In Levantine, كاسة often refers to a glass, cup, or drinking vessel, depending on context.

In everyday speech, it can be broader than a single neat English word. So the exact translation depends on what the object actually is.

That is normal in Arabic vocabulary: one everyday word may overlap with several English words.

Why does the sentence start the second part with و?

و means and.

So:

  • والباب = and the door

This connects the two parts of the sentence:

  • الكاسة مكسورة
  • والباب كمان خربان من مبارح

In natural speech, Arabic often links short statements this way, just like English does with and.

How would this sentence be pronounced in Levantine?

A common Levantine pronunciation would be something like:

il-kāse maksūre, w il-bāb kamān kharbān min mbāreḥ

A few helpful notes:

  • الكاسة is often pronounced il-kāse
  • مكسورة often sounds like maksūre
  • والباب is w il-bāb
  • مبارح is often mbāreḥ

Pronunciation varies by country and region, but this is a good general Levantine-style approximation.

Could I say this in a more Standard Arabic way?

Yes. A more Standard Arabic version would be something like:

الكأس مكسورة، والباب أيضًا خراب منذ أمس

But that sounds much more formal and less natural for everyday Levantine conversation.

The original sentence is useful because it reflects how people actually speak:

  • الكاسة instead of a more formal word
  • كمان instead of أيضًا
  • مبارح instead of أمس

So for spoken Levantine, the original is the better model.

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