Learn Hardcore Arabic (Levantine): من وقت ما اخدت ملخص من زميلتي، صارت المحاضرة اوضح بكتير. - Since I got a summary from my female colleague, the lecture has become much clearer.

من وقت ما اخدت ملخص من زميلتي، صارت المحاضرة اوضح بكتير.min wa't ma akhadt mulakhkhas min zamilti, sârat il-muhâdara awdah bktîr.

Since I got a summary from my female colleague, the lecture has become much clearer.

Breakdown of من وقت ما اخدت ملخص من زميلتي، صارت المحاضرة اوضح بكتير.

Questions & Answers about من وقت ما اخدت ملخص من زميلتي، صارت المحاضرة اوضح بكتير.

What does من وقت ما mean in this sentence?

In Levantine, من وقت ما literally means from the time that, but very often it is used like since, ever since, or sometimes after depending on context.

So here, من وقت ما اخدت ملخص... means something like:

Since I got a summary...
Ever since I got a summary...
After I got a summary...

It introduces the starting point for what follows.

Why is the verb written اخدت instead of the MSA form أخذت?

This is a normal colloquial Levantine spelling. The verb is the same root as MSA أخذ (to take), but in dialect it is usually pronounced and written more simply as أخد / اخد.

So:

MSA: أخذت
Levantine: اخدت

In informal dialect writing, the hamza is often dropped in spelling, even though the word is still understood easily.

How do we know اخدت means I took/got and not you took/got?

Good question. In Levantine, the past tense form اخدت can be ambiguous by itself:

أنا اخدت = I took
إنتَ اخدت = you took (masculine singular)