الريحان جنب النعناع.

A good Egyptian-style pronunciation is:

er-rēḥān gamb en-na‘na‘

A few notes:

• ج in Egyptian Arabic is usually pronounced g, so جنب is gamb, not jamb.
• ح in ريحان is a strong, breathy h sound: rēḥān.
• ع in نعناع is the deep throat sound ‘ayn, written here as ‘: na‘na‘.
• The الـ is not pronounced al- here because both ر and ن are sun letters, so you hear:
  • الريحان → er-rēḥān
  • النعناع → en-na‘na‘

Because Arabic normally does not use a present-tense verb for “to be” in simple sentences like this.

So where English says:

• X is next to Y

Arabic can simply say:

• X next to Y

This is completely normal. In Egyptian Arabic, the sentence is understood as a present-time statement without needing a separate word for is.

جنب in Egyptian Arabic means next to, beside, or by.

In everyday Egyptian, it behaves very much like a preposition:

• جنب البيت = next to the house
• جنبي = next to me / beside me

So in this sentence, it links the two nouns and shows location or position.

Because both nouns are definite here.

• الريحان = the basil
• النعناع = the mint

Arabic uses الـ to make a noun definite, similar to the in English.

So this sentence is talking about two specific things, not just any basil or any mint.

Because of sun-letter assimilation.

In Arabic, when الـ comes before certain letters, the l sound disappears and the next consonant is doubled. Both ر and ن are sun letters.

So:

• الريحان is pronounced er-rēḥān, not al-rēḥān
• النعناع is pronounced en-na‘na‘, not al-na‘na‘

In Egyptian Arabic, the vowel in the article is also often heard more like e than a, which is why learners often write it as er- or en-.

Yes, very common.

The pattern is:

noun + جنب + noun

This is a very natural way to say that one thing is beside another.

Examples of the same pattern:

• الكرسي جنب الترابيزة
• العربية جنب البيت

So the structure of your sentence is simple and useful for everyday Egyptian Arabic.

Yes.

You could also say:

النعناع جنب الريحان

That would still be grammatical. The basic meaning of the position relationship stays the same, but the starting point of the sentence changes. In practice, the first noun is often the thing you are presenting as the topic.

So both are fine; the choice depends on what you want to mention first.

The written sentence is understandable in both, but it feels especially natural in everyday Arabic, including Egyptian.

A few points:

• The written form is straightforward and widely understood.
• The Egyptian pronunciation is different from Standard Arabic pronunciation.
• In more formal Modern Standard Arabic, people might also use expressions like بجانب or إلى جانب.

So as written, it works well for Egyptian learners, especially if you pronounce it the Egyptian way.

No, not in Egyptian Arabic.

In Egyptian Arabic:

• case endings are not used
• short vowels are usually not written
• the sentence is normally written just as:

الريحان جنب النعناع

So for everyday Egyptian reading and writing, this form is exactly what you would expect.

Usually these three:

• ح in ريحان
  A stronger, throatier h than English h.

• ع in نعناع
  This is the sound called ‘ayn. English doesn’t really have it, so beginners often struggle with it.

• ر in الريحان
  In Arabic, ر is usually a tapped or lightly rolled r, not the English r.

If you cannot produce them perfectly yet, don’t worry. The most important thing at first is to recognize them and aim for an approximation.