جارتنا كانت بدها تشتري قطة، بس بنتها بدها كلب صغير.

جارتنا means our (female) neighbor.

Breakdown:

• جارة = a female neighbor
• -نا = our

When a word ends in ـة (taa marbuuTa), that ending often becomes a pronounced t sound before a suffix:

• جارة → جارتنا
• not جارةنا

So the t is normal here. This happens a lot in Arabic:

• سيارة = car
• سيارتها = her car

Because كانت بدها expresses a past desire: she wanted or she was wanting.

• بدها = she wants
• كانت بدها = she wanted

So:

• جارتنا كانت بدها تشتري قطة = Our neighbor wanted to buy a cat

This is a very common Levantine way to talk about wanting something in the past.

بدها means she wants.

It is made of:

• بدّ = want / need
• -ها = she / her

So:

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

In this sentence:

• كانت بدها = she wanted
• بنتها بدها = her daughter wants

The تـ marks a present-tense verb form used here after بدها.

• تشتري = she buys / she wants to buy / you (feminine) buy, depending on context

Here, because the subject is she, it means:

• بدها تشتري = she wants to buy

In Levantine, after بدّي / بدك / بده / بدها, the next verb is often in the present form:

• بدي آكل = I want to eat
• بدها تشتري = she wants to buy

In Levantine, after verbs or expressions of wanting, the following verb is usually just the normal present form, but in English we translate it as an infinitive:

• بدها تشتري = literally something like she wants she-buys
• natural English: she wants to buy

So although تشتري is formally a present-tense form, after بدها it functions like to buy in translation.

Yes, بس can mean both but and only, depending on context.

In this sentence, it clearly means but:

• ...قطة، بس بنتها بدها كلب صغير
• ...a cat, but her daughter wants a small dog

Examples:

• بس أنا ما بعرف = but I don’t know
• بدي واحد بس = I only want one

So context tells you which meaning is intended.

بنتها means her daughter.

Breakdown:

• بنت = daughter / girl
• -ها = her

So:

• بنتها = her daughter

Here, her refers back to جارتنا:

• جارتنا ... بس بنتها...
• Our neighbor ... but her daughter...

Because Arabic often attaches possessive pronouns directly to the noun.

English:

• her daughter

Levantine Arabic:

• بنتها

More examples:

• كتابي = my book
• بيتها = her house
• أخونا = our brother

So Arabic usually does this with suffixes instead of separate words like my, your, her.

Because in Arabic, adjectives usually come after the noun.

• كلب = dog
• صغير = small

So:

• كلب صغير = a small dog

This is the normal order in Arabic:

• بيت كبير = a big house
• بنت صغيرة = a small/young girl
• قطة سوداء = a black cat

Because it describes كلب, and كلب is a masculine noun.

Arabic adjectives agree with the noun they describe in gender and number.

• كلب صغير = a small dog (masculine)
• قطة صغيرة = a small cat (feminine)

So the adjective has to match the noun:

• masculine noun → masculine adjective
• feminine noun → feminine adjective

A big clue is the ending ـة, which very often marks feminine nouns.

• قطة = cat (feminine form as a noun)
• صغيرة would be feminine too, if describing it

For example:

• قطة صغيرة = a small cat

Not every feminine noun ends in ـة, and not every word ending in ـة behaves exactly the same way in every situation, but it is a very common sign of feminine gender.

In everyday Levantine, قطة commonly just means cat in general.

Even though it is grammatically feminine, people often use it as the normal everyday word for cat.

If someone specifically wanted to say a male cat, they might use:

• بسّ in some dialects

But for most learners, it is enough to know:

• قطة = cat

A common Levantine pronunciation would be roughly:

jāratna kānet biddha tishtiri 'iTTa, bas binta biddha kalb zghīr

A few notes:

• جارتنا = jāratna
• كانت = kānet
• بدها = biddha
• تشتري = tishtiri
• قطة is often pronounced with a glottal stop at the start in many Levantine accents: 'iTTa or 'aTTa
• بس = bas
• بنتها may sound like binta here in fast speech if the h is light or dropped in casual pronunciation, though careful pronunciation is bintha
• صغير in Levantine is often zghīr

Pronunciation varies by country, city, and speaker.

Arabic has no separate word for a / an.

So:

• قطة = a cat or just cat
• كلب صغير = a small dog

If the noun were definite, Arabic would usually add الـ:

• القطة = the cat
• الكلب الصغير = the small dog

So in your sentence:

• قطة = a cat
• كلب صغير = a small dog

Because Levantine does not need one here.

English says:

• she wanted to buy

Levantine says:

• كانت بدها تشتري

No extra word is needed between بدها and the next verb.

This is very normal:

• بدي روح = I want to go
• بدك تدرس = you want to study
• بدهم يشوفوا = they want to see

كانت بدها is natural everyday Levantine speech.

أرادت is a more formal/literary word from Standard Arabic.

So:

• كانت بدها تشتري قطة = natural spoken Levantine
• أرادت أن تشتري قطة = more formal / MSA-style

If you are learning conversational Levantine, بدّي / بدك / بده / بدها is much more useful.

Yes. The word بس creates a contrast:

• the neighbor wanted a cat
• her daughter wants a small dog

So the sentence does not just give two facts; it highlights that their preferences are different.

That contrast is an important part of the meaning, even if the grammar itself is simple.