عندي سعال منذ أمس.

In Arabic, possession is often expressed with a phrase meaning something like at me rather than with a separate verb to have.

• عند = at / with
• ـي = my / me

So عندي literally means with me or at me, and in many contexts it is the normal way to say I have.

So:

• عندي سعال = literally At me is a cough
• natural English meaning = I have a cough

عندي has two parts:

• عند = a noun/preposition-like word meaning at, with, in the possession of
• ـي = the attached pronoun meaning me / my

Together:

• عندي = I have / with me
• Compare:
  • عندك = you have
  • عنده = he has
  • عندها = she has

This pattern is very common in Arabic.

Because the sentence means a cough, not the cough.

• سعال = a cough / cough
• السعال = the cough

In Arabic, an indefinite noun often appears without الـ. So here سعال is indefinite, which matches the English idea a cough.

It is a noun here.

• سعال = cough as a noun
• It refers to the condition or symptom

So the sentence is not saying I cough. It is saying I have a cough.

If you wanted the verb to cough, you would use a different structure.

منذ is used with time expressions to mean since or sometimes for, depending on context.

Here:

• منذ أمس = since yesterday

So the full sentence means:

• I have a cough since yesterday
• more natural English: I’ve had a cough since yesterday

This is a very common MSA way to talk about something continuing from a past time until now.

Because أمس is a fixed word meaning yesterday. It normally appears without الـ.

So:

• أمس = yesterday

This is similar to how English does not say the yesterday.

The order is:

• عندي = I have
• سعال = a cough
• منذ أمس = since yesterday

So literally it is:

• At me [is] a cough since yesterday

This kind of order is normal in Arabic. The sentence begins with the phrase عندي, then gives the thing possessed, then adds the time phrase.

Yes, you can.

• عندي سعال منذ أمس = perfectly normal
• أنا عندي سعال منذ أمس = also correct, with extra emphasis on I

The pronoun أنا is often omitted because ـي in عندي already shows that the speaker is I. Adding أنا can make it more emphatic or contrastive.

Yes.

• لدي سعال منذ أمس = also correct
• عندي سعال منذ أمس = very common and natural

A rough difference:

• لدي often sounds a bit more formal or written
• عندي often sounds more everyday and conversational

In Modern Standard Arabic, both are acceptable.

The letter ع is one of the sounds English speakers often find difficult. It is a voiced consonant produced deep in the throat.

In عندي:

• the word begins with ع
• it is not like English a, ah, or a silent sound
• it is a real consonant

A helpful beginner approach is:

• do not ignore it completely
• try to produce a gentle throat constriction before the vowel

Even if your ع is not perfect at first, being aware that it is a consonant is important.

A fully vocalized version could be written as:

عِندي سُعالٌ مُنذُ أَمْسِ

A few notes:

• In normal everyday writing, these vowel marks are usually omitted.
• You will often see it simply written as:
  • عندي سعال منذ أمس

So learners should recognize both the fully marked and unmarked forms.

Because Arabic often uses a nominal sentence in the present tense without an explicit verb to be.

In English, we often need a verb such as am, is, or have. In Arabic, the meaning can be understood without a present-tense verb.

So instead of a verb-based structure, Arabic uses:

• a possession phrase: عندي
• a noun: سعال
• a time phrase: منذ أمس

This is fully grammatical in Arabic.

A very natural English translation would be:

• I’ve had a cough since yesterday.

Even though the Arabic structure is literally closer to I have a cough since yesterday, English normally uses the present perfect here.

So when translating, it is often better to choose natural English rather than translate word-for-word.