اذا ما اشتغلت مكنسة الكهربا، لازم نجيب وحدة جديدة.

A natural Levantine-style transliteration would be:

iza ma shtaghlet maknset il-kahraba, lazem njib waḥde jdide.

You may also hear small pronunciation differences depending on the country or speaker, especially in words like مكنسة and الكهربا.

A rough word-by-word guide:

• اذا ما → iza ma
• اشتغلت → shtaghlet
• مكنسة الكهربا → maknset il-kahraba
• لازم → lazem
• نجيب → njib
• وحدة جديدة → waḥde jdide

Yes, in more careful spelling it is usually written إذا.

In casual Arabic typing, especially in dialect, people often leave out hamzas and other spelling details. So اذا is very common in informal writing, even though إذا is the more standard spelling.

This is normal and not a grammar difference.

إذا means if, and ما negates the verb that follows.

So إذا ما اشتغلت means:

• if it doesn’t work
• or more literally, if it didn’t work

In Levantine, إذا ما + verb is a very common way to make a negative condition.

This is a very common thing in Levantine Arabic.

Even though اشتغلت is formally the perfect/past form, after إذا it can refer to a future possibility or condition. So:

• إذا ما اشتغلت
  naturally means if it doesn’t work / if it turns out not to work

This does not have to mean a real past event in this kind of sentence.

So the tense/form in Arabic does not always match English tense directly.

Because مكنسة is a feminine singular noun, and the verb agrees with it.

• مكنسة = vacuum cleaner / broom, feminine
• اشتغلت = it worked for a feminine singular subject

So the -ت here marks feminine singular in the perfect verb.

This is why you do not get the masculine form here.

Good question, because in Levantine the same form can sometimes match more than one meaning.

By itself, اشتغلت could mean:

• I worked
• or she/it worked for a feminine subject

But here the next words make it clear:

• اشتغلت مكنسة الكهربا

That means the subject is مكنسة الكهربا, so the verb must mean the vacuum cleaner worked / turned on / functioned.

So context tells you the meaning.

In Levantine, مكنسة الكهربا is a very normal everyday way to say vacuum cleaner.

Literally, it is something like:

• مكنسة = broom / sweeper / vacuum
• الكهربا = the electricity

So the whole expression is basically the electric vacuum/sweeper.

In more formal Arabic, you might see المكنسة الكهربائية, but in spoken Levantine مكنسة الكهربا sounds much more natural.

الكهربا is the colloquial Levantine form of الكهرباء.

In dialect speech, the final hamza of words like this is often dropped or simplified, so:

• كهرباء → formal / Standard Arabic
• كهربا → everyday Levantine

This is a very common dialect feature.

لازم means something like:

• must
• have to
• need to

So:

• لازم نجيب = we have to get / we need to get

In Levantine, لازم is often followed directly by a present-tense verb, with no extra word in between.

Also, لازم itself does not change for person:

• لازم أروح = I have to go
• لازم تروح = you have to go
• لازم نجيب = we have to get

The person is shown by the verb, not by لازم.

Yes, the basic meaning of جاب / يجيب is bring, but in colloquial Arabic it often also means get.

So لازم نجيب وحدة جديدة can mean:

• we need to get a new one
• and depending on context, that may imply buy a new one

If you said نشتري, that would focus more specifically on buying.
نجيب is broader and very natural in everyday speech.

Here وحدة means one, as in a new one.

It is standing in for the noun مكنسة so that you do not have to repeat it.

So instead of saying:

• لازم نجيب مكنسة كهربا جديدة

the sentence says:

• لازم نجيب وحدة جديدة
• we need to get a new one

Because مكنسة is feminine, the word for one is also feminine:

• واحد for masculine
• وحدة for feminine

Because وحدة is feminine, and the adjective has to agree with it.

• وحدة = feminine
• جديدة = feminine form of new

So:

• واحد جديد = a new one, masculine
• وحدة جديدة = a new one, feminine

Since the hidden noun is مكنسة, feminine agreement is required.

Yes, you may hear that too, and it can sound natural depending on the speaker and context.

Compare:

• إذا ما اشتغلت
• إذا ما بتشتغل

Both can be understood as if it doesn’t work.

Very roughly:

• اشتغلت after إذا often gives a natural if it ends up working / not working kind of condition
• بتشتغل can sound more like it works / is working

In everyday Levantine, both patterns exist, but إذا ما اشتغلت is a very common and natural way to express this kind of condition.

It is clearly Levantine colloquial Arabic, not formal Standard Arabic.

Clues include:

• الكهربا instead of الكهرباء
• the overall conversational structure
• لازم نجيب as an everyday spoken pattern

A more formal Standard Arabic version would look quite different, for example with words like المكنسة الكهربائية.

So this sentence is the kind of Arabic you would actually hear in daily conversation in the Levant.