صاحب اخي قرر يشتري هدية لعمتي قبل الزيارة.

Yes, صاحب can mean owner in some contexts, but here it means friend.

So:

• صاحب أخي = my brother’s friend

In Levantine, صاحب is a very common everyday word for friend / buddy / pal.
A more formal word would be صديق.

So this sentence sounds more natural and conversational than if it used صديق.

This is an idafa construction, which is the Arabic way of showing possession.

Structure:

• صاحب = friend
• أخي / اخي = my brother

Put them together:

• صاحب أخي = friend of my brother = my brother’s friend

A few important points about idafa:

• The first noun usually does not take ال
• The second noun makes the whole phrase definite if it is definite
• Here, أخي is definite because it has the attached pronoun -ي = my

So even though صاحب does not have ال, the whole phrase is definite: my brother’s friend.

In Levantine, it is very common to use قرر + imperfect verb directly:

• قرر يشتري = he decided to buy

In more formal Standard Arabic, you will often see:

• قرر أن يشتري

Both are understandable, but:

• قرر يشتري feels more natural in spoken Levantine
• قرر أن يشتري feels more formal / Standard Arabic

So for Levantine learners, قرر يشتري is a useful everyday pattern.

Because Arabic uses the imperfect verb after another verb to express something like the English infinitive to buy.

So:

• قرر = he decided
• يشتري = literally he buys / he will buy
• but after قرر, it functions like to buy

So قرر يشتري means:

• he decided to buy

The time is mainly controlled by قرر, not by يشتري on its own.

This is very normal in Arabic and does not mean the buying is happening right now.

The preposition لـ here means for.

So:

• هدية = a gift
• لعمتي = for my aunt

That gives:

• هدية لعمتي = a gift for my aunt

Also, عمتي specifically means:

• my paternal aunt = my father’s sister

This is an important detail in Arabic family vocabulary. Arabic often distinguishes between:

• عمّة = father’s sister
• خالة = mother’s sister

So عمتي is more specific than the English word my aunt.

عمتي is made from:

• عمّة = aunt
• -ي = my

When a noun ending in ة takes a suffix like -ي, that ة becomes a pronounced t sound:

• عمّة → عمتي

So it is pronounced roughly like ʿammti.

This happens with many nouns:

• سيارة = car

• سيارتي = my car

• غرفة = room
• غرفتي = my room

So عمتي is a very normal suffix pattern meaning my aunt.

It literally means:

• before the visit

Breakdown:

• قبل = before
• الزيارة = the visit

So this refers to a specific visit that is understood from context.

In English, we might say:

• before the visit
• before visiting
• before they visited

But Arabic is using the noun الزيارة = the visit, not a full verb clause.

If you wanted a more explicitly verbal spoken structure in Levantine, you might hear something like:

• قبل ما يزوروا
• قبل ما نروح
• قبل ما نزور عمتي

So قبل الزيارة is a noun-based expression: before the visit.

It is understandable as Levantine-style Arabic, but it has a fairly neutral written feel and sits somewhere between spoken Levantine and Standard Arabic.

Why?

• صاحب for friend is very common in Levantine
• قرر يشتري feels natural in spoken Arabic
• The vocabulary is simple and widely understood
• But the sentence is also neat and clean enough that it does not sound extremely slangy

A more formal Standard Arabic version might be:

• صديق أخي قرر أن يشتري هدية لعمتي قبل الزيارة

A more strongly colloquial Levantine version might vary depending on country and speaker.

So this sentence is a good example of easy, broadly understandable Levantine-style Arabic.

This is very common in casual Arabic writing.

Formally, the correct spelling is:

• أخي

But in everyday typing, texting, or informal writing, many people leave out the hamza and write:

• اخي

The meaning does not change.

So:

• أخي = formal spelling
• اخي = casual spelling

Learners should recognize both, because native speakers very often omit hamzas in informal writing.

Yes, absolutely.

Both can mean my brother’s friend, but the tone is different:

• صاحب أخي = more everyday, conversational, Levantine
• صديق أخي = more formal, more Standard Arabic, sometimes a bit more neutral

In spoken Levantine, صاحب often sounds more natural in casual conversation.

So if you are aiming for everyday speech, صاحب أخي is a very useful choice.