الكلب تبع جارنا بخاف من القطة لما بتقرب عالباب.

تبع is a very common Levantine way to show possession. Here it means something like belonging to or of.

So:

• الكلب تبع جارنا = our neighbor’s dog
• literally: the dog belonging to our neighbor

This is very natural in spoken Levantine. It is often easier and more conversational than the tighter noun-plus-noun structure you may know from Standard Arabic.

You can compare:

• الكلب تبع جارنا = our neighbor’s dog
• Standard Arabic style: كلب جارنا

In Levantine, تبع can also change with pronouns:

• تبعي = mine
• تبعك = yours
• تبعه = his
• تبعها = hers

جارنا = جار + نا

• جار = neighbor
• -نا = our

So جارنا literally means our neighbor.

A useful thing to notice is that Arabic often attaches pronouns directly to nouns:

• بيتنا = our house
• صاحبنا = our friend
• سيارتهم = their car

So جارنا is a very common kind of word formation.

In this sentence, both nouns are treated as definite:

• الكلب = the dog
• القطة = the cat

That often happens when the speaker has a specific dog and a specific cat in mind, or when the referents are already understood from context.

In spoken Arabic, definiteness does not always line up perfectly with English. Arabic may use the where English might not, especially when the speaker assumes the listener knows which thing is meant.

So القطة here probably means the cat that this dog is afraid of, not just any random cat.

In Levantine, بـ on the imperfect verb usually marks the present, habitual, or ongoing/general sense.

So:

• بخاف / بيخاف = he is afraid / he gets afraid / he fears
• بتقرب = she approaches / she gets close / she comes near

This is one of the big differences between spoken Levantine and Standard Arabic. In Levantine, the b- prefix is extremely common in everyday present-tense speech.

For learners, a good rough rule is:

• بـ + imperfect = present or habitual

Many learners will ask this, and it is a good question.

In many widely taught Levantine varieties, the expected form for he is afraid is بيخاف, not بخاف.

Typical forms are:

• بخاف = I am afraid / I fear
• بيخاف = he is afraid / he fears
• بتخاف = she is afraid / you are afraid

So in a broad, learner-safe Levantine form, many teachers would say:

• الكلب تبع جارنا بيخاف من القطة...

If you saw بخاف with الكلب, it may reflect:

• a regional or speech variation,
• a reduced pronunciation in fast speech,
• or simply a less careful spelling of colloquial speech.

For most learners, بيخاف is the safer form to produce for he is afraid.

Because in Arabic, خاف من is the normal pattern for to be afraid of.

So:

• خاف من شي = to be afraid of something
• بيخاف من الكلاب = he is afraid of dogs
• بخاف من العتمة = I’m afraid of the dark

This is just something you learn with the verb, like learning that English says afraid of and not afraid from.

When learning Arabic verbs, it helps to memorize them together with their prepositions:

• فكّر بـ = think about
• حكى مع = talk with
• خاف من = be afraid of

Here لما means when.

It introduces a time clause:

• لما بتقرب عالباب = when she/it comes near the door

In Levantine, لما is very common for when in everyday speech.

Depending on context, it can sometimes sound like:

• when
• as soon as
• whenever

In this sentence, the most natural understanding is simply when.

Because it refers back to القطة, and قطة is a feminine noun in Arabic.

So the verb agrees with it:

• القطة بتقرب = the cat approaches

In the present tense, third-person feminine singular is commonly marked with بتـ in Levantine.

Compare:

• الكلب بيقرب = the dog approaches
• القطة بتقرب = the cat approaches

So the ت at the start is showing feminine agreement.

The subject is understood from context. Arabic often leaves it implicit when it is already clear.

So in:

• الكلب تبع جارنا ... من القطة لما بتقرب عالباب

the verb بتقرب has an implied subject: هي = she/it, referring back to القطة.

English often repeats subjects more explicitly, but Arabic frequently does not need to.

You could make it explicit if you wanted:

• لما القطة بتقرب عالباب

But the original version is perfectly natural, because the listener already knows that the cat is the one approaching.

عالباب is a contraction of على الباب.

So:

• على = on / at
• على الباب = at the door
• عالباب = at the door

This kind of contraction is extremely common in spoken Levantine.

You will hear the same thing in many phrases:

• عالبيت = على البيت = to the house / at the house
• عالطريق = على الطريق = on the road
• عالشغل = على الشغل = to work / at work

So عالباب is just the natural colloquial pronunciation/spelling of على الباب.

Yes, it is very natural.

The sentence starts with the full topic or subject:

• الكلب تبع جارنا

Then it gives the main statement about that subject:

• بخاف من القطة

Then it adds the time clause:

• لما بتقرب عالباب

This kind of structure is very common in spoken Arabic:

• subject/topic
  • comment about it
    • extra clause/details

So the sentence flows naturally as:

1. who we are talking about,
2. what is true about him,
3. when that happens.

A common learner-friendly pronunciation would be something like:

il-kalb tabaʿ jārna bykhāf min il-ʔiṭṭa lamma btʔarrab ʿal-bāb

A few pronunciation notes:

• ق in many urban Levantine accents is often pronounced as a glottal stop ʔ, so القطة may sound like il-ʔiṭṭa
• In some regional accents, ق may stay q
• ع in عالباب is the consonant ʿayn, which has no exact English equivalent
• تبع is often pronounced tabaʿ

Also, if you use the form many learners are taught, you would probably say:

الكلب تبع جارنا بيخاف من القطة لما بتقرب عالباب

Yes, it is clearly in a Levantine-style colloquial form.

Some especially Levantine features here are:

• تبع for possession
• بـ on present-tense verbs
• لما in a spoken time clause
• عالباب as a colloquial contraction

You may hear small regional differences across the Levant. For example:

• تبع may also appear as تاع in some areas
• بيخاف is a very common form where another speaker might write بخاف
• pronunciation of ق can vary a lot

So the exact wording may shift a little from Syria to Lebanon to Palestine to Jordan, but the overall structure is very recognizably Levantine.