هذا المبنى بعيد عن الجامعة، لكن شقتي فيه أكبر من شقتي القديمة.

In present-tense Arabic, you usually do not say a separate word for is / are in sentences like this. Arabic often uses a nominal sentence instead.

So:

• هذا المبنى بعيد عن الجامعة = This building is far from the university
• شقتي فيه أكبر من شقتي القديمة = My apartment in it is bigger than my old apartment

The idea of is is understood automatically.

If you wanted was, Arabic would normally use كان.

Because المبنى is a masculine singular noun, so it takes the masculine singular demonstrative هذا.

• هذا = this for masculine singular
• هذه = this for feminine singular

So:

• هذا المبنى = this building

Even though some inanimate nouns can feel arbitrary in gender, you still have to learn each noun’s grammatical gender.

المبنى means the building.

Its final ى is called alif maqṣūrah. It is pronounced like a long ā sound, so المبنى is pronounced roughly al-mabnā.

So the ending is not a y sound here. It is a long a sound.

Because بعيد normally goes with the preposition عن when you mean far from.

• بعيد = far
• عن = from

So:

• بعيد عن الجامعة = far from the university

This is just the normal Arabic pattern. English says far from, and Arabic also uses a preposition here.

الجامعة means the university.

Arabic often uses the definite article الـ in places where English might or might not use the, depending on context. Here the sentence is talking about a specific university already understood in context, so الجامعة is natural.

• جامعة = a university / university
• الجامعة = the university

لكن means but or however. It introduces a contrast.

So the sentence is structured like this:

• This building is far from the university,
• but my apartment in it is bigger than my old apartment.

It contrasts one negative point with one positive point.

شقتي means my apartment.

It is made of:

• شقة = apartment
• ـي = my

So:

• شقة → شقتي

A very important point: when a noun ending in ة takes a suffix, that ة becomes a pronounced t sound.

That is why:

• شقة = shaqqa
• شقتي = shaqqatī

فيه means in it.

It is made of:

• في = in
• ـه = it / him

Here, the ـه refers back to المبنى = the building.

So:

• شقتي فيه literally means my apartment in it
• More naturally: my apartment in that building

Arabic often uses a preposition plus attached pronoun instead of repeating the noun.

Because شقتي فيه is a natural way to say my apartment in it / my apartment there.

Arabic word order is flexible, but here the phrase فيه comes after شقتي to describe where that apartment is.

So the idea is:

• شقتي = my apartment
• فيه = in it
• together: my apartment in it

This sounds natural in Arabic.

This is a very common question.

In Arabic, the comparative form like أكبر is usually used in the masculine singular form when it means bigger / bigger than.

So even though شقة is feminine, Arabic still says:

• شقتي أكبر من... = My apartment is bigger than...

Not كبرى here.

So think of أكبر as the standard dictionary-style comparative form used with من.

Because the normal Arabic pattern for comparison is:

• أفعل + من
• comparative + than

So:

• أكبر من = bigger than
• أصغر من = smaller than
• أبعد من = farther than

In this sentence:

• أكبر من شقتي القديمة = bigger than my old apartment

Because القديمة is an adjective describing a definite noun.

شقتي is already definite because it means my apartment. In Arabic, possessive forms like my apartment, his book, our house are definite.

When an adjective describes a definite noun, the adjective must also be definite.

So:

• شقتي = my apartment
• القديمة = the old

Together:

• شقتي القديمة = my old apartment

Also remember that adjectives normally come after the noun in Arabic.

Because the speaker is comparing:

1. my apartment in this building now
2. my old apartment

So Arabic says both clearly:

• شقتي فيه = my apartment in it
• شقتي القديمة = my old apartment

English might sometimes avoid repetition, but Arabic often keeps the noun for clarity. Here it makes the comparison very explicit.