عمي ما اجا الجمعة لانه كان تعبان، بس رح يجي الاحد.

Because the ending -ي means my.

• عم = paternal uncle, meaning your father’s brother
• عمي = my paternal uncle

This is a useful cultural/vocabulary point: Arabic usually distinguishes between the two kinds of uncle.

• عم = father’s brother
• خال = mother’s brother

So عمي is more specific than English my uncle.

In Levantine, a very common way to negate a past verb is:

ما + past verb

So:

• اجا = he came
• ما اجا = he didn’t come

Unlike English, Arabic does not need a helper like did here. So it is literally closer to not came.

Because this sentence is in Levantine Arabic, not Modern Standard Arabic.

• Levantine: إجا / اجا = he came
• MSA: جاء = he came

They mean the same thing, but the forms are different. In Levantine, you will also hear:

• يجي = he comes / he will come

So اجا and يجي belong together as the everyday dialect pattern.

Arabic often does not use a separate word for on with days of the week.

So English:

• on Friday
• on Sunday

often becomes simply:

• الجمعة
• الأحد

This is very normal. If you want, Arabic can add something like بيوم in some contexts, but it is not necessary here.

Days of the week are very often said with الـ in Arabic.

So:

• الجمعة = Friday
• الأحد = Sunday

That is just the usual form you will often hear and read.

Also, in casual typing, people often write الاحد instead of the more careful spelling الأحد. The meaning does not change.

لانه means because.

In more careful spelling, it is usually written لأنه. In Levantine writing, you may also see لأنو. These are spelling/pronunciation differences you will often meet in informal Arabic.

A Levantine speaker might pronounce it something like:

• laʾanno
• or laʾennu, depending on region

So here:

• لانه كان تعبان = because he was tired

Because Arabic uses كان to put a description into the past.

• تعبان = tired / unwell
• كان تعبان = he was tired / unwell

Without كان, the meaning would be present:

• هو تعبان = he is tired

So كان is doing the job of English was here.

Not always. تعبان can mean several nearby things, depending on context:

• tired
• exhausted
• unwell
• not feeling well

In this sentence, it could be understood as tired or sick/not well, depending on the situation.

Also note the form:

• تعبان = masculine
• تعبانة = feminine

Since عمي is masculine, تعبان matches it.

Because Arabic often drops subject pronouns when they are already clear from the verb or from context.

Here, the subject is already known from عمي. So Arabic does not need to say هو again.

That means:

• كان تعبان = he was tired
• رح يجي = he will come

You can add هو for emphasis, but it is not necessary.

Here, بس means but.

So:

• ... بس رح يجي الاحد = ... but he’ll come on Sunday

This is a very common Levantine word. Be careful, though: بس can also mean only / just in other contexts. Here, because it connects two contrasting ideas, it clearly means but.

In Levantine, رح is a common future marker.

Pattern:

رح + present/imperfect verb

So:

• يجي = he comes
• رح يجي = he will come / he’s going to come

This is one of the most common ways to talk about the future in Levantine. You may also hear حـ instead of رح in some speech.

One natural pronunciation is:

ʿammi ma ija l-jumʿa laʾanno kān taʿbān, bas raḥ yiji l-aḥad.

A few notes:

• ع in عمي is the letter ʿayn
• اجا is often pronounced ija
• لانه is often pronounced laʾanno
• يجي is typically yiji

Pronunciation varies a bit by country and city, but this would sound recognizably Levantine.