بعد الغداء أجلس في الشرفة وأقرأ صحيفة.

Because the verbs already tell you the subject.

• أجلس means I sit / I am sitting
• أقرأ means I read / I am reading

The prefix أَ- on these present-tense verbs marks first person singular, so Arabic does not need أنا here.

You could say أنا أجلس... for emphasis, but it is not necessary in a normal sentence.

بعد means after, and it is followed by a noun: الغداء = the lunch / lunch.

Grammatically:

• بعد is a time expression meaning after
• the noun after it is in the genitive relationship
• so in fully vowelled Arabic, this part is بَعْدَ الغَدَاءِ

A useful way to think of it is:

• بعد + noun = after + noun
• بعد الغداء = after lunch

This is a very common difference between Arabic and English.

In Arabic, meals are often expressed with the definite article:

• الفطور = breakfast
• الغداء = lunch
• العشاء = dinner

So بعد الغداء is the normal way to say after lunch, even though a literal word-for-word translation looks like after the lunch.

Arabic and English do not always use definiteness in the same way.

Usually in a sentence like this, أجلس means I sit or I sit down, depending on context.

In this particular sentence, because it is followed by another habitual action, it often feels like:

• After lunch, I sit on the balcony and read a newspaper.

So here it sounds like a regular routine, not necessarily a single dramatic moment of sitting down.

If the context is more about routine, English may translate it naturally as I sit. If the context is more about the action of taking a seat, it can be I sit down.

Literally, في usually means in, so في الشرفة is literally in the balcony.

But in natural English, this will often be translated as:

• on the balcony
• sometimes in the balcony area, depending on context

Arabic في is very common for location and is often broader than a strict English in.

So:

• في الشرفة = on the balcony / in the balcony area

Because they are being used differently.

• الشرفة = the balcony
  This suggests a specific balcony, probably one already understood from context, such as the balcony of the speaker’s home.

• صحيفة = a newspaper
  This is indefinite, meaning any newspaper, not a specific previously mentioned one.

So the sentence contrasts:

• a known place: the balcony
• an unspecified object: a newspaper

Because in Arabic, و meaning and is written as a prefix attached directly to the following word.

So:

• و = and
• أقرأ = I read
• وأقرأ = and I read

This is completely normal in Arabic spelling. Other short particles are often attached this way too.

The verbs are in the present tense form, but Arabic present tense can cover several meanings depending on context.

So this sentence can mean things like:

• After lunch, I sit on the balcony and read a newspaper.
  habitual / routine meaning

or, less commonly depending on context:

• After lunch, I am sitting on the balcony and reading a newspaper.
  current ongoing meaning

In a standalone sentence like this, the habitual reading is usually the most natural.

Arabic word order is flexible.

This sentence starts with the time expression:

• بعد الغداء = after lunch

That puts the time frame first, which is very natural. After that comes the main action:

• أجلس في الشرفة وأقرأ صحيفة

So the structure is basically:

• Time expression + action

You could often rearrange parts in Arabic, but this order is smooth and common because it first tells you when, then tells you what happens.

They come from very common Arabic roots:

• أجلس comes from the root ج ل س related to sitting

  • base verb: جلس = he sat
  • أجلس here = I sit / I am sitting

• أقرأ comes from the root ق ر أ related to reading

  • base verb: قرأ = he read
  • أقرأ = I read / I am reading

Learning roots helps a lot in Arabic, because many related words come from the same three-consonant base.

A fully vowelled version would be:

بَعْدَ الغَدَاءِ أَجْلِسُ فِي الشُّرْفَةِ وَأَقْرَأُ صَحِيفَةً.

Those endings show the grammar more clearly:

• بعدَ: accusative form, because it is an adverbial time expression
• الغداءِ: genitive after بعد
• في الشرفةِ: الشرفةِ is genitive after في
• صحيفةً: accusative because it is the direct object of أقرأ

In everyday printed Arabic, these short vowels are usually omitted.

Two sounds may stand out for English speakers:

• غ in الغداء
  This is a voiced back/throaty sound, often compared loosely to the French r in some pronunciations, though it is not exactly the same.

• ء in أقرأ
  This is the hamza, a glottal stop, like the catch in the middle of uh-oh.

So أقرأ is pronounced roughly like:

• aqraʾ

with a clear stop at the end.

Also note:

• ق is a deep q sound, farther back than English k
• ش in الشرفة is like English sh

Yes. Here صحيفة is singular because the meaning is a newspaper.

So:

• أقرأ صحيفة = I read a newspaper

If you wanted I read newspapers, you would normally use a plural noun instead, such as:

• أقرأ صحفًا = I read newspapers

So the singular here matches the idea of reading one newspaper.

Yes. صحيفة can mean:

• newspaper
• paper
• journal
• publication

The exact meaning depends on context. In this sentence, newspaper is the most natural meaning.