الحكم في الملعب.

The referee is on the football pitch.

Breakdown of الحكم في الملعب.

• في: in
• الملعب: the football pitch; field
• الحكم: the referee

Questions & Answers about الحكم في الملعب.

Why is there no word for is in الحكم في الملعب?

Because Arabic often leaves out the present-tense to be.

So الحكم في الملعب literally looks like the referee in the field/stadium, but it means The referee is in the field/stadium.

This is very normal in both Standard Arabic and Egyptian Arabic.

• Present: الحكم في الملعب = The referee is in the stadium / on the field
• Past: you would add a form of كان = was
• Future: Egyptian would usually use a future marker plus a verb

So the missing is is not a mistake; it is just how Arabic works in the present tense.

How is الحكم pronounced here, and what does it mean?

Here it is pronounced el-ḥakam in Egyptian Arabic, and it means the referee.

A very important point: the spelling الحكم can be ambiguous without vowel marks.

It could be:

• el-ḥakam = the referee
• el-ḥokm = the judgment / the ruling

In this sentence, because of في الملعب (in/on the field), the meaning is clearly the referee.

A rough pronunciation guide:

• el = the Egyptian form of the
• ḥ = a strong, breathy h sound, deeper than English h
• akam = roughly HA-kam

Is this sentence Egyptian Arabic, or could it also be Standard Arabic?