الضيعة يلي راحوا عليها قريبة من نهر صغير.

يلي is the Levantine relative word meaning that / which / who.

In الضيعة يلي راحوا عليها, it links الضيعة to the clause that describes it:

• الضيعة = the village
• يلي راحوا عليها = that they went to

So يلي works like English that or which.

A very important point: in Levantine, يلي is used very widely for people, things, and places. You do not need different words like English who / which / that.

Because راح on its own usually means went, but if you want to say went to it / went to the village, Levantine often uses على with a pronoun:

• راحوا = they went
• راحوا عليها = they went to it

Here, عليها refers back to الضيعة.

This is a common Levantine pattern with destinations, especially in everyday speech. So even though على often means on, in this kind of sentence it can function more like to.

Literally, عليها is:

• على = on / onto / to
• ها = her / it

So عليها literally looks like on it or onto it, but in this sentence it idiomatically means to it, referring to the village.

Because الضيعة is grammatically feminine, the pronoun is ها.

So:

• عليه = on him / it (masculine)
• عليها = on her / it (feminine)

Because it describes الضيعة, and ضيعة is a feminine noun.

In Arabic, adjectives agree with the noun they describe in gender and definiteness. So:

• الضيعة = the village (feminine)
• قريبة = near / close (feminine)

If the noun were masculine, you would use قريب instead.

For example:

• البيت قريب = the house is near
• الضيعة قريبة = the village is near

Because the phrase means a small river, not the small river.

• نهر = a river
• صغير = small

Since both are indefinite, there is no الـ.

Compare:

• من نهر صغير = from / near a small river
• من النهر الصغير = from / near the small river

So the sentence is saying the village is near a small river, not a specific already-known river.

Here من means from, but in Arabic it is also used in expressions of closeness and distance.

So:

• قريب من = near
• بعيد من or more commonly بعيد عن = far from

In this sentence:

• قريبة من نهر صغير = near a small river

This is a very common structure, and it is best learned as a chunk:

• قريب من = near
• قريبة من = near (feminine)

Because the verb itself already includes the subject.

• راحوا = they went

The ending -وا shows that the subject is they.

So in Arabic, you often do not need a separate pronoun unless you want emphasis or contrast.

Compare:

• راحوا = they went
• هنّ راحوا = they went

The second version is possible, but the pronoun is optional unless you want extra emphasis.

It is basically:

• الضيعة = the village
• يلي راحوا عليها = that they went to
• قريبة من نهر صغير = is near a small river

So the full structure is:

[noun] + [relative clause] + [description]

A natural breakdown is:

• الضيعة = the village
• يلي راحوا عليها = that they went to
• قريبة = near
• من نهر صغير = a small river

This kind of structure is very common in Levantine.

Yes. That is one of the most useful things about يلي.

It can mean:

• who for people
• which for things
• that in general
• also for places in context

Examples:

• الزلمة يلي شفته = the man that I saw
• الكتاب يلي قريته = the book that I read
• المحل يلي رحنا عليه = the place that we went to

So in your sentence, يلي is introducing a clause about the village, and that is completely normal.

A more MSA-style version would be:

القرية التي ذهبوا إليها قريبة من نهر صغير.

Compare the parts:

• Levantine الضيعة → MSA القرية
• Levantine يلي → MSA التي
• Levantine راحوا → MSA ذهبوا
• Levantine عليها → MSA إليها

So the Levantine sentence is more colloquial and everyday, while the MSA version is more formal and written.

Usually الضيعة means the village, especially in Levantine speech. It often suggests a small rural place.

Depending on context, it can also carry the sense of:

• one’s home village
• a country village
• sometimes a small town, depending on how the speaker views it

So ضيعة is a very Levantine everyday word, and in this sentence village is the most natural translation.