المستأجر ناطر بالشقة.

The tenant is waiting at the apartment.

Breakdown of المستأجر ناطر بالشقة.

• شقة: apartment
• نطر: to wait
• مستأجر: the tenant

Questions & Answers about المستأجر ناطر بالشقة.

Why is there no separate word for is in this sentence?

In Levantine Arabic, the present-tense verb to be is usually not said.

So instead of saying something like the tenant is waiting, Arabic just says:

• المستأجر ناطر
• literally: the tenant waiting

This is completely normal. If you wanted past or future, then forms of to be can appear, but in the present they are usually omitted.

What exactly is ناطر here? Is it a verb?

ناطر is an active participle used very naturally in Levantine to describe someone’s current state.

So in this sentence, ناطر means something like:

• waiting
• or is waiting

English needs is, but Arabic often does not.

A helpful way to think of it is:

• المستأجر ناطر = the tenant is waiting

So grammatically it is not a standard finite verb like waits. It is more like a state word that functions as the predicate of the sentence.

Could I also say المستأجر عم يستنى بالشقة instead?

Yes. That would also be natural in Levantine.

There are a few common ways to express this idea:

• ناطر = waiting
• مستنّي = waiting
• عم يستنّى = is waiting