الميكانيكي قال انو الموتور دار.

انو means that here. It introduces the second clause after قال:

• قال انو ... = he said that ...

In Levantine, إنو / انو is very common in everyday speech. A learner will often hear it after verbs like:

• قال انو = he said that
• عرفت انو = I found out that
• سمعت انو = I heard that

So in this sentence, انو is simply linking he said to what was said.

Because Arabic verbs often already include the subject inside the verb form.

• قال by itself means he said
• قالت means she said
• قلت means I said

So Arabic does not need a separate word for he here. The verb already tells you that the subject is he.

Because الميكانيكي tells you who that he is.

• قال = he said
• الميكانيكي قال = the mechanic said

This is very normal in Arabic. Even though the verb already shows he, you can still name the person for clarity.

الـ is the Arabic definite article, meaning the.

So:

• الميكانيكي = the mechanic
• الموتور = the motor / the engine

Arabic uses الـ much like English uses the. In this sentence, both nouns are definite.

It is a very common borrowed word in colloquial Arabic. In Levantine, people often use موتور for motor or engine, especially in everyday speech.

So this is a good example of how spoken Arabic often includes loanwords that feel completely normal to native speakers.

Depending on region and context, people may also use other words for engine, but الموتور is very common and natural.

Literally, دار comes from the idea of turning or going around. With a motor or engine, it commonly means:

• turned
• started turning
• ran
• sometimes started

So with الموتور, دار often means the engine turned over or started running.

This is one of those verbs where the exact English translation depends on context, but the core idea is that the motor began to move/operate.

Because in Arabic, especially in colloquial speech, people often describe machines by whether they turn or run, not necessarily by using a direct equivalent of English start.

For an engine, دار is very idiomatic. It sounds natural in the same way English speakers might say:

• The engine turned over
• The engine ran
• It started

So دار is not a strange choice at all; it is exactly the kind of verb native speakers use for engines and motors.

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

The biggest clue is انو. In spoken Levantine, قال انو is very common. In MSA, the wording would usually be different in style and spelling.

Also, words like الموتور and the overall phrasing sound conversational and everyday, which is typical of dialect speech.

A simple learner-friendly transliteration would be:

il-mikānīki 'āl inno l-mōtōr dār

A few notes:

• الميكانيكي → il-mikānīki
• قال → 'āl or qāl, depending on how you want to represent pronunciation
• انو → inno / anno
• الموتور → il-mōtōr
• دار → dār

In many Levantine accents, the الـ article is pronounced more like il- or el-.

In Levantine, both patterns can exist, but قال انو ... is extremely common because انو clearly marks the following clause as reported speech or reported information.

Compare:

• قال انو الموتور دار = he said that the motor ran
• قال: الموتور دار = he said: the motor ran

The version with انو feels like ordinary reported speech in conversation.

It breaks down like this:

• الميكانيكي = the mechanic
• قال = said / he said
• انو = that
• الموتور = the motor / engine
• دار = turned / ran / started

So the structure is:

the mechanic + said + that + the motor + ran

That is very close to English structure, which makes this sentence relatively easy for English speakers to understand once they know the vocabulary.

Yes. الموتور is singular, and دار is the singular masculine past form.

That is the default form you would expect with a singular masculine noun like الموتور.

For example, if the subject were feminine, the verb form would usually change. So this is a normal subject-verb match.

Yes. Like many Arabic verbs, دار can have different shades of meaning depending on context.

Common ideas include:

• turned
• went around
• revolved
• operated
• ran

With a machine or engine, the intended meaning is usually something like turned over or ran. So context is very important.

That is normal in Arabic and also in English: compare how run changes meaning in run a company, run fast, and the engine is running.