جنب المزرعة في نهر، والولاد كانوا عم يلعبوا جنبه.

جنب means next to / beside here.

Originally, جنب is a noun meaning side, but in everyday Levantine it very often works like a preposition:

• جنب المزرعة = next to the farm
• جنب البيت = next to the house

So in this sentence, جنب المزرعة is a location phrase: beside the farm.

Here في means there is / there are, not in.

So:

• جنب المزرعة في نهر = Next to the farm, there is a river

This is very common in Levantine. The same word في can mean:

• in
• there is / there are

Context tells you which one it is. In this sentence, after a location phrase, في نهر is naturally understood as there is a river.

Levantine often starts with the place, then gives what exists there.

So the structure is:

• جنب المزرعة = location
• في نهر = there is a river

Literally, it is something like:

• Beside the farm, there is a river

This word order is very natural in Arabic. It highlights the location first.

الولاد usually means the boys, but in some contexts it can also mean the kids / the children, depending on who is being talked about.

In this sentence, it most naturally means the boys.

A few related forms:

• ولد = boy
• ولاد = boys / kids
• الولاد = the boys / the kids

عم marks an ongoing action in Levantine.

So:

• يلعبوا = they play / they are playing
• عم يلعبوا = they are playing
• كانوا عم يلعبوا = they were playing

This is the Levantine way to make the past progressive:

• كانوا = they were
• عم
  • present verb = ongoing action

So كانوا عم يلعبوا very naturally means they were playing.

Because the subject is الولاد, which is plural.

• كانوا = they were
• يلعبوا = they play / were playing with a plural ending

So the sentence shows plural agreement twice:

• الولاد كانوا
• الولاد ... يلعبوا

That is completely normal in Levantine.

جنبه means next to him / next to it.

It is:

• جنب = next to / beside
• -ه = him / it

In this sentence, -ه refers to نهر (river), because نهر is masculine.

So:

• جنبه = next to it = next to the river

If it referred to المزرعة (the farm), it would be:

• جنبها = next to her/it

because مزرعة is feminine.

There are two main clues:

1. Gender
   • نهر is masculine
   • مزرعة is feminine

Since the sentence says جنبه with -ه (masculine), it matches نهر, not مزرعة.

2. Meaning
   • The boys were playing next to the river makes natural sense in the flow of the sentence.

So جنبه clearly means next to the river.

Because و (and) is normally written attached to the following word in Arabic.

So:

• و = and
• الولاد = the boys
• والولاد = and the boys

This is just normal Arabic spelling.

Yes. A fairly literal breakdown is:

• جنب المزرعة = beside the farm
• في نهر = there is a river
• والولاد = and the boys
• كانوا عم يلعبوا = were playing
• جنبه = next to it

So, word-for-word-ish:

Beside the farm there is a river, and the boys were playing next to it.

Yes. Depending on the region, you may also hear expressions like:

• حدّ = next to
• بجنب = next to / by the side of

So meanings like these are all close:

• جنب المزرعة
• حدّ المزرعة
• بجنب المزرعة

The sentence you were given is completely natural, but Levantine has several common ways to say next to.