فتشت على المفتاح، بس لقيته تحت الكنباية.

It can mean either one.

In Levantine, فتشت is the same form for:

• أنا فتشت = I searched
• إنتَ فتشت = you searched (to a man)

So the subject is often understood from context, and Arabic usually does not need a separate word like I or you unless you want emphasis or clarity.

If the speaker is talking about themself, فتشت here is understood as I searched.

Because in Levantine, فتّش على is a common expression meaning to search for or look for.

So you should learn it as a chunk:

• فتّش على = search for
• دوّر على = look for / search for

This is one of those cases where the preposition does not match English exactly. English uses for, but Levantine uses على.

Here بس means but.

So it links the two parts of the sentence:

• فتشت على المفتاح = searched for the key
• بس = but
• لقيته تحت الكنباية = found it under the couch

A very important note: بس can also mean only / just in other sentences. So its meaning depends on context.

لقيته breaks down like this:

• لقيت = found
• ـه = him/it (masculine singular object pronoun)

So لقيته means I found it here.

The it refers back to المفتاح.

In Levantine pronunciation, the written ـه at the end is often pronounced more like -o, so لقيته is commonly said something like laʔeeto or lʔeeto, depending on the region.

Also, just like فتشت, لقيت by itself can be understood from context as I found or you found (masculine), but here the intended meaning is I found it.

Because المفتاح is grammatically masculine.

Arabic object pronouns agree with the noun they refer to. Since مفتاح is masculine singular, the pronoun is ـه.

Compare:

• لقيته = I found it/him (masculine)
• لقيتها = I found it/her (feminine)

So if the thing being found were a feminine noun, the ending would change.

تحت is a preposition meaning under / beneath.

Then comes the noun:

• الكنباية = the couch / the sofa

So:

• تحت الكنباية = under the couch

Arabic does this very directly: preposition + noun. There is no extra word like of in between.

كنباية is a Levantine dialect word meaning sofa / couch.

It is a very everyday word in speech. You may also hear related forms like:

• كنبة
• قنباية in some spellings/pronunciations

It is not the most formal textbook word, which is why it may look unfamiliar if you have mainly studied Modern Standard Arabic.

So this sentence sounds natural and colloquial.

A natural Levantine-style pronunciation could be written roughly as:

fattašt ʿal-miftāḥ, bas laʔēto taḥt il-kanbāye

A few pronunciation notes:

• على is often reduced in speech, so it can sound like ʿa or ʿal
• لقيته often sounds like laʔēto
• الـ may sound like il- or el-, depending on the speaker

So in fast everyday speech, the sentence is usually smoother and shorter than the spelling might suggest.

Because verb-first order is very normal in Arabic, and the subject is often left unstated when it is obvious.

So:

• فتشت على المفتاح is perfectly natural for I searched for the key
• أنا فتشت على المفتاح is also possible, but adding أنا gives more emphasis, like I searched for the key

In everyday Levantine, speakers usually skip the subject pronoun unless they need contrast, emphasis, or clarity.