ده نوع من الجبنة.

In this sentence, ده is the Egyptian Arabic masculine demonstrative. It often means this, but in everyday speech it can also function like this is or even it’s, depending on context.

So ده نوع من الجبنة is literally something like:

this / this is / it’s a type of the cheese

But the natural English meaning is simply whatever meaning you were already given, such as This is a type of cheese or It’s a type of cheese.

Because in Arabic, the verb to be is usually omitted in the present tense.

So where English says:

This is a type of cheese

Egyptian Arabic just says:

ده نوع من الجبنة

This is completely normal. Arabic only uses an explicit to be verb in other tenses, such as past or future.

A common pronunciation would be:

da nawʿ men el-gebna

A few notes:

• ده = da
• نوع = nawʿ
• من = men
• الجبنة = el-gebna

Important Egyptian pronunciation point:

• The letter ج in Egyptian Arabic is usually pronounced like g in go, not like English j.

So الجبنة sounds like el-gebna, not el-jibna.

نوع means type or kind.

So نوع من... is a very common pattern meaning:

a type of...
or
a kind of...

You can use it with many nouns:

• نوع من الأكل = a type of food
• نوع من الفاكهة = a type of fruit
• نوع من الموسيقى = a type of music

Here من means of in the expression نوع من...

So:

• نوع = type
• من = of
• الجبنة = the cheese / cheese

Together, نوع من الجبنة means a type of cheese.

This is a fixed and very common structure in Arabic.

Great question. In Arabic, after نوع من it is very common to use a noun with ال- even when English would use a bare noun.

So Arabic says:

نوع من الجبنة

Literally, that looks like a type of the cheese, but that is just how Arabic expresses the idea. In natural English, you would simply say a type of cheese.

So this is not unusual or wrong—it is just a normal Arabic structure.

Because نوع is a masculine noun.

In Egyptian Arabic:

• ده is used with masculine nouns
• دي is used with feminine nouns

Since نوع is masculine, you say:

ده نوع...

not

دي نوع...

Even though جبنة is feminine, the demonstrative here matches نوع, because that is the main noun in the sentence.

Yes. جبنة is grammatically feminine.

A big clue is the ـة at the end, which very often marks feminine nouns in Arabic.

But in this sentence, that does not change ده, because ده is referring to نوع rather than directly to جبنة.

Yes, the wording and pronunciation are Egyptian-style.

A more Modern Standard Arabic version would be:

هذا نوع من الجبن

Some differences:

• Egyptian: ده

• MSA: هذا

• Egyptian often says جبنة
• MSA more often uses جبن

Also, in Egyptian Arabic, الـ is usually pronounced el-, not al-.

Sometimes, yes. In spoken Egyptian Arabic, ده can be flexible depending on context, tone, and what the speaker is pointing to or referring back to.

But for a beginner, the safest first understanding is:

• ده = this / this is

In a sentence like this one, that is usually the most helpful interpretation.

Yes, but it means something slightly different in structure.

• ده نوع من الجبنة = This is a type of cheese
• النوع ده من الجبنة = this type of cheese

So the original sentence is a full statement, while النوع ده من الجبنة is more like a noun phrase.

For example:

• ده نوع من الجبنة = This is a type of cheese.
• بحب النوع ده من الجبنة = I like this type of cheese.

The key noun is نوع.

The sentence is built like this:

• ده = this / this is
• نوع = type
• من الجبنة = of cheese

So the core idea is:

This is a type...

and then من الجبنة tells you what kind of type it is.

That is why ده agrees with نوع, not with جبنة.