البنت الصغيرة بتخاف من البرق، فامها قعدت جنبها شوي.

Because البنت الصغيرة means the little girl, not a little girl.

In Arabic, adjectives usually match the noun in:

• definiteness
• gender
• number

So:

• بنت صغيرة = a little girl
• البنت الصغيرة = the little girl

Since البنت is definite with الـ, the adjective الصغيرة also has الـ.

Because it describes a feminine noun.

• بنت is feminine
• so the adjective must also be feminine

That gives:

• masculine: صغير = small / young
• feminine: صغيرة = small / young

So البنت الصغيرة is a normal feminine noun + feminine adjective combination.

بتخاف means she is afraid or she gets afraid / is scared.

It comes from the verb خاف = to fear / be afraid.

In Levantine, the b- prefix often marks the ordinary present:

• بخاف = I’m afraid / I fear
• بتخاف = she is afraid / you (fem.) are afraid
• بيخاف = he is afraid

Here, البنت الصغيرة بتخاف من البرق can mean:

• the little girl is afraid of lightning
• or more naturally in context, the little girl gets scared of lightning

Using the present here sounds natural for a general state or ongoing situation.

Because the verb خاف normally takes من when saying what someone is afraid of.

So:

• بخاف من الكلاب = I’m afraid of dogs
• هي بتخاف من العتمة = she’s afraid of the dark
• البنت الصغيرة بتخاف من البرق = the little girl is afraid of lightning

For English speakers, it helps to learn خاف من as one pattern: to be afraid of.

البرق means lightning.

A rough pronunciation is il-barʔ or el-barʔ, depending on the variety.

A useful note: the letter ق is pronounced differently in different Levantine accents:

• in many urban accents, it becomes a glottal stop ء
• in some rural or more formal pronunciations, it may stay q

So البرق may sound like:

• il-barʔ
• or il-barq

Both reflect real pronunciation patterns.

This is a very common thing in spoken Arabic.

• بتخاف gives a background state: she is afraid / she gets scared
• قعدت gives the event that happened next: her mother sat/stayed next to her

So the sentence works like:

• The little girl is afraid of lightning, so her mother sat beside her for a bit.

In natural speech, Levantine often mixes a present tense for a general or ongoing situation with a past tense for the main action that followed.

If you wanted everything in a more clearly past frame, you might also hear something like:

• البنت الصغيرة كانت خايفة من البرق، فإمها قعدت جنبها شوي = The little girl was scared of the lightning, so her mother sat next to her for a while.

But the sentence as written is still understandable and natural.

It is basically:

• فـ = so
• أمها / امها = her mother

So فامها means so her mother.

In informal Arabic writing, people often write these things together without worrying too much about formal spelling rules. You may also see:

• فأمها
• فإمها
• ف امها

In Levantine speech, mother is very often إم rather than formal أم, so in actual speech this may sound closer to:

• fa-ʼimma
• or f-ʼimma

The important thing is that -ها means her.

It breaks down like this:

• أم / إم = mother
• ـها = her

So:

• أمها / امها / إمها = her mother

This attached pronoun ـها is very common:

• كتابها = her book
• بيتها = her house
• أختها = her sister
• أمها = her mother

Literally, yes: قعدت comes from قعد, which often means to sit.

But in Levantine it is also used more broadly to mean:

• sat
• stayed
• remained
• sometimes spent some time

So in this sentence, قعدت جنبها شوي is best understood as:

• she sat next to her for a bit
• or she stayed beside her for a little while

It is a very natural everyday verb in Levantine.

Because the subject is her mother, which is feminine.

In the past tense:

• قعد = he sat
• قعدت = she sat

Since أمها / إمها means her mother, the verb must be feminine:

• فامها قعدت = so her mother sat

جنبها means next to her / beside her.

It breaks down as:

• جنب = side / beside / next to
• ـها = her

So:

• جنبي = next to me
• جنبك = next to you
• جنبه = next to him
• جنبها = next to her

In the sentence:

• قعدت جنبها = she sat next to her

شوي means a little, a bit, or for a little while, depending on context.

Here, because it follows a verb of sitting/staying, it means:

• for a bit
• for a little while

Examples:

• استنى شوي = wait a bit
• بدي مي شوي = I want a little water
• قعدت جنبها شوي = she sat next to her for a bit

This is a very common Levantine word.

Not exactly the same in form, but very similar in meaning.

• Levantine everyday speech often uses شوي
• Standard Arabic often uses قليلًا or expressions like لفترة قصيرة

So:

• شوي = a little / a bit
• in this sentence, for a little while

If you are learning Levantine conversation, شوي is the form you will hear all the time.

Yes. Spoken Levantine is often written in many different ways, because there is no single fixed spelling system for dialect writing.

You might also see something like:

• البنت الصغيرة بتخاف من البرق، فإمها قعدت جنبها شوي.

Or even:

• البنت الزغيرة بتخاف من البرق، فإمها قعدت حدّا شوي.

Depending on region, spelling, and pronunciation:

• صغيرة / زغيرة
• جنبها / حدّا
• أمها / إمها

So the exact written form can vary, but the structure and meaning stay the same.

It could. Arabic often uses pronoun suffixes instead of repeating the noun.

So instead of repeating البنت الصغيرة, the sentence uses ـها:

• أمها = her mother
• جنبها = next to her

This makes the sentence smoother and less repetitive.

A fuller version could be:

• البنت الصغيرة بتخاف من البرق، فأمها قعدت جنب البنت شوي but that sounds less natural than using جنبها.

فـ means so, then, or and so.

It connects the two parts of the sentence:

• البنت الصغيرة بتخاف من البرق = the little girl is afraid of lightning
• فامها قعدت جنبها شوي = so her mother sat beside her for a bit

It shows a result or next step:

• she was afraid,
• so her mother sat beside her.

This little فـ is extremely common in both spoken and written Arabic.