المالك بالشقة.

The owner is at the apartment.

Breakdown of المالك بالشقة.

• شقة: apartment
• مالك: the owner

Questions & Answers about المالك بالشقة.

Why is there no word for is in this sentence?

Because in Arabic, a present-tense sentence like this often has no written or spoken verb for is/am/are.

So المالك بالشقة is a normal Arabic sentence structure:

• المالك = the owner
• بالشقة = in the apartment

Arabic simply puts them together to mean the owner is in the apartment.

If you wanted past tense, you would usually add كان:

• المالك كان بالشقة = the owner was in the apartment

What does بالشقة literally break down into?

بالشقة is made of three parts:

• بـ = in / at
• الـ = the
• شقة = apartment

So:

• بالشقة = in the apartment

This is a very common kind of Arabic contraction.

Why is it بـ here instead of في?

In Levantine Arabic, بـ is very commonly used for location, where English would use in or at.

So both of these can mean roughly the same thing:

• المالك بالشقة
• المالك في الشقة

But:

• sounds very natural in Levantine speech