اختي كانت بدها تمر عالبقالة بعد الدوام، بس رجعت عالبيت بكير.

بدها by itself means she wants. Adding كانت shifts that idea into the past, so كانت بدها means she wanted to, she was planning to, or she was going to.

Using both words is very common in Levantine when you want to talk about a past desire or intention.

بدها is made from بدّ plus the attached pronoun -ها.

A few common forms are:

• بدي = I want
• بدك = you want
• بده = he wants
• بدها = she wants
• بدنا = we want

So بدها تمر literally means she wants to pass by / stop by.

After بدّ plus another verb, Levantine usually uses the bare imperfect without بـ.

So you say:

• بدها تمر = she wants/wanted to stop by

not:

• بدها بتمر

The بـ prefix is more typical for regular present/habitual meaning, like:

• هي بتمر من هون كل يوم = she passes by here every day

Here تمر comes from مرّ, which literally means to pass or pass by.

In this sentence, it does not just mean physically passing. It means something more like:

• stop by
• drop by
• swing by

So تمر عالبقالة means stop by the grocery store.

عالبقالة is the colloquial contraction of على البقالة.

In Levantine, على + ال often becomes عالـ in speech and informal writing.

So:

• على البقالة → عالبقالة

And البقالة means the grocery store, corner shop, or small market.

In Levantine, على is very commonly used with movement and destinations in ways that may sound broader than English on.

With verbs like مرّ and رجع, على can mean something like:

• to
• toward
• by
• at

So تمر عالبقالة naturally means stop by the grocery store, not pass on the grocery store.

بعد الدوام means after work, after her shift, or after working hours.

الدوام can refer to:

• office hours
• a work shift
• school hours
• the regular daily schedule of work or study

So the exact English wording depends on context, but after work is often the most natural translation.

Here بس means but.

This is extremely common in Levantine.
Depending on context, بس can also mean only or just, but in this sentence it clearly connects two contrasting ideas:

• she wanted to stop by the grocery store
• but she came home early

In writing without vowels, رجعت can represent either:

• I returned
• she returned

But the context makes it clear here that it means she returned:

• the subject is اختي = my sister
• earlier you already have feminine forms like كانت and بدها

So رجعت عالبيت means she returned home or she went back home.

عالبيت is short for على البيت.

Just like عالبقالة, it uses the common contraction على + ال = عالـ.

In Levantine, رجع عالبيت is a very normal way to say:

• went back home
• returned home

It should not be translated word-for-word as returned onto the house. It is simply the idiomatic way of expressing movement back home.

بكير means early.

In this sentence, it works like an adverb:

• رجعت عالبيت بكير = she came back home early

It is a very common everyday Levantine word. A more formal or Standard Arabic equivalent would be مبكرًا, but بكير is what you would expect in normal speech.

In informal Levantine writing, spelling is often simplified, and people do not always write the initial hamza the way Standard Arabic would.

So you may see:

• أختي
• اختي

Both represent my sister.

In casual texting and dialect writing, this kind of spelling variation is very common.