أمي تفضل القهوة، لكن صديقتي تفضل الحليب مع قليل من السكر في كوب صغير.

Because both subjects are feminine singular:

• أمي = my mother
• صديقتي = my female friend

In the present tense, a third-person feminine singular verb usually begins with تـ.

So:

• أمي تفضل = My mother prefers
• صديقتي تفضل = My friend prefers

If the subject were masculine, you would usually get يـ instead:

• أبي يفضل... = My father prefers

Arabic usually does not need an explicit subject pronoun when the subject is already stated or clear from the verb.

So Arabic says:

• أمي تفضل القهوة
• literally: My mother prefers coffee

You do not need to say:

• أمي هي تفضل القهوة

That would usually sound unnecessary here. Arabic often drops subject pronouns unless there is a special reason to emphasize them.

أمي means my mother.

It is made of:

• أم = mother
• ـي = my

So:

• أمي = my mother

This ـي is a possessive suffix. The same idea appears in:

• صديقتي = my female friend
• كتابي = my book
• بيتي = my house

Because صديقتي refers to a female friend.

Compare:

• صديق = male friend
• صديقة = female friend

When you add ـي for my, you get:

• صديقي = my male friend
• صديقتي = my female friend

The ـة in صديقة is the common feminine ending.

لكن means but.

It connects two contrasting ideas:

• أمي تفضل القهوة
• لكن صديقتي تفضل الحليب...

So the sentence contrasts the mother’s preference with the friend’s preference.

In everyday fully vocalized MSA, you may also encounter لٰكن pronounced lākin. There is also لكنَّ in other grammatical structures, but here لكن simply means but.

Because both nouns are being used in a generic/definite way:

• القهوة = coffee
• الحليب = milk

In Arabic, it is very common to use الـ when talking about things in a general sense, especially with preferences:

• أحب الشاي = I like tea
• يفضل القهوة = he/she prefers coffee

English often uses no article here, but Arabic frequently uses الـ.

It is pronounced roughly as tufaḍḍilu in fully vowelled MSA.

Important points:

• The middle consonant is ض
• It has a shadda, so the sound is doubled: ḍḍ
• The stress is usually heard as tu-FAD-di-lu

So the full formal form is:

• تُفَضِّلُ

In normal unvowelled writing, it appears as تفضل.

Here قليل means a little or a small amount.

So:

• مع = with
• قليل = a little / a small amount
• من السكر = of sugar

Together:

• مع قليل من السكر = with a little sugar

This is a very natural Arabic way to express a small quantity.

Because قليل is often followed by من when you specify what there is a little of.

So:

• قليل من السكر = a little sugar
• literally: a little of sugar

Other examples:

• قليل من الماء = a little water
• قليل من الوقت = a little time

This is a very common structure in Arabic.

This phrase describes how the milk is served:

• في = in
• كوب = cup
• صغير = small

So:

• في كوب صغير = in a small cup

Arabic often places this kind of prepositional phrase after the noun phrase it modifies in meaning. Here it naturally follows the milk phrase:

• الحليب مع قليل من السكر في كوب صغير

That can be understood as milk with a little sugar, served in a small cup.

Because كوب is a masculine noun, so the adjective must also be masculine.

• كوب = cup
• صغير = small (masculine)

Arabic adjectives agree with the noun in:

• gender
• number
• definiteness

So:

• كوب صغير = a small cup
• فنجان صغير = a small cup/cupful

If the noun were feminine, the adjective would also be feminine:

• سيارة صغيرة = a small car

Because in Arabic, adjectives normally come after the noun they describe.

So:

• كوب صغير = cup small = a small cup
• صديقة جميلة = friend beautiful = a beautiful friend

This is the normal order in Arabic:

• noun + adjective

not:

• adjective + noun

Because the sentence means in a small cup, not in the small cup.

Compare:

• في كوب صغير = in a small cup
• في الكوب الصغير = in the small cup

Arabic marks definiteness on both the noun and the adjective:

• indefinite: كوب صغير
• definite: الكوب الصغير

Since no specific cup is being identified, the indefinite form is used.

In fully vocalized formal Arabic, the sentence can be written as:

أُمِّي تُفَضِّلُ القَهْوَةَ، لٰكِنْ صَدِيقَتِي تُفَضِّلُ الحَلِيبَ مَعَ قَلِيلٍ مِنَ السُّكَّرِ فِي كُوبٍ صَغِيرٍ.

The main case endings are:

• القهوةَ — accusative, because it is the object of تفضل
• الحليبَ — accusative, also the object of تفضل
• قليلٍ — genitive after مع
• السكرِ — genitive after من
• كوبٍ — genitive after في
• صغيرٍ — genitive because it matches كوب

In normal writing and most speech, these endings are usually not written or fully pronounced.

The given order is natural, but Arabic allows some flexibility.

The basic sentence is:

• أمي تفضل القهوة، لكن صديقتي تفضل الحليب...

This is very normal and clear.

You could sometimes move parts for emphasis, but learners should stick to the standard order:

• subject + verb + object
• then extra details such as مع قليل من السكر and في كوب صغير

So the given version is an excellent model to follow.

Not exactly. The هـ-like sound in القهوة is actually هاء? No—in this word the relevant letter is ه? Let's break it carefully:

القهوة is spelled with ق هـ و ة after ال? Actually it is قهوة: ق + هـ + و + ة.

So yes, there is a normal h sound from هـ in the middle:

• قَهْوَة

Important pronunciation points:

• ق is a deep q sound, not English k
• هـ is a normal h
• final ة is pronounced -a in pause

So the word is roughly:

• qahwa

In this sentence, قليل is part of a noun phrase:

• قليل من السكر = a little sugar

Here it behaves like a noun meaning a small amount.

قليلاً can also appear as an adverb, often meaning a little / slightly:

• انتظر قليلاً = Wait a little
• أتكلم العربية قليلاً = I speak Arabic a little

So:

• قليل من السكر = a little sugar
• قليلاً = a little, slightly, for a short while, depending on context

They are related, but used differently.

In normal understanding, it describes the milk or the whole serving, not just the sugar.

So the meaning is:

• she prefers milk with a little sugar, in a small cup

Arabic often leaves this kind of attachment to context. Here the most natural reading is that the drink is in a small cup.

If you wanted to be extra explicit, you could rephrase, but the original sentence is perfectly natural and understandable.