بعد ساعة كانت رائحة الخبز واللحم في البيت جميلة، وكان الطعام لذيذا جدا.

After an hour, the smell of bread and meat in the house was nice, and the food was very delicious.

Breakdown of بعد ساعة كانت رائحة الخبز واللحم في البيت جميلة، وكان الطعام لذيذا جدا.

• في: in
• و: and
• البيت: house
• بعد: after

Questions & Answers about بعد ساعة كانت رائحة الخبز واللحم في البيت جميلة، وكان الطعام لذيذا جدا.

What does بعد ساعة mean exactly?

It means after an hour or an hour later.

Grammatically:

• بعد is a time expression meaning after
• ساعةٍ is the noun after it, meaning an hour

In full vocalization, it is بعدَ ساعةٍ. The noun after بعد is in the genitive because بعد forms an iḍāfa-like construction with it.

Why is it كانت and not كان in the first clause?

Because the noun connected to كان is رائحة , and رائحة is feminine singular.

So:

• كان = masculine singular
• كانت = feminine singular

Since رائحة means smell or scent and is a feminine noun, Arabic uses كانت.

How does رائحة الخبز واللحم work grammatically?

This is an iḍāfa construction, meaning the smell of the bread and the meat.

Breakdown:

• رائحة = smell / scent
• الخبز = the bread
• اللحم = the meat

So literally it is:

• = the smell of the bread