عمي ساكن في المدينة.

A natural Egyptian pronunciation is:

ʿammi sākin fil-madīna

A rough breakdown:

• عمي = ʿammi
• ساكن = sākin
• في المدينة = fi l-madīna, often said smoothly as fil-madīna

A few pronunciation notes:

• ع is the letter ʿayn, a sound English does not have. It comes from the throat.
• عمي has a doubled m sound: ʿam-mi
• مدينة is usually stressed on -dii-: ma-DII-na

عمي specifically means my paternal uncle — that is, my father’s brother.

In Arabic, family words are often more specific than in English. For example:

• عمي = my father’s brother
• خالي = my mother’s brother

So this is not just any uncle; it is a specific kind of uncle.

In Arabic, the verb to be in the present tense is usually not said.

So instead of saying:

• My uncle is living in the city

Arabic simply says:

• عمي ساكن في المدينة

This is completely normal.

If you want other tenses, then forms of to be can appear, for example:

• كان ساكن في المدينة = he was living in the city

So the missing is is not an omission or slang mistake — it is just how Arabic works in the present tense.

ساكن is an active participle from the root related to living/residing.

In Egyptian Arabic, active participles are very often used to describe a current state. So ساكن here means something like:

• living
• residing
• staying

That makes عمي ساكن في المدينة a very natural way to say that your uncle lives there.

You could also hear:

• عمي بيسكن في المدينة

That is also correct and means my uncle lives in the city.
Very roughly:

• ساكن can feel a bit like is living / is residing
• بيسكن can feel a bit more like lives / habitually lives

In many everyday situations, both are fine.

It is best understood as a predicate participle.

In this sentence:

• عمي = the subject
• ساكن = what is being said about him
• في المدينة = where

So ساكن is not directly describing عمي the way an ordinary adjective inside a noun phrase would. It is functioning as the main predicate of the sentence.

That is why the sentence works like:

• My uncle is living in the city

not like:

• my city-dwelling uncle

Because it is the predicate of the sentence, not a definite adjective attached to the noun.

In Arabic, predicates like this are usually indefinite, so you get:

• عمي ساكن في المدينة

If you said:

• عمي الساكن في المدينة

that would sound more like:

• my uncle who lives in the city

That is a different structure: now you are describing which uncle, rather than making a simple statement about him.

So:

• عمي ساكن في المدينة = a full statement
• عمي الساكن في المدينة = a noun phrase, like my uncle who lives in the city

Because in fast, natural speech, في and المدينة run together.

So:

• في المدينة becomes
• fi l-madīna and often sounds like
• fil-madīna

This is very common in spoken Arabic. The spelling does not change, but the pronunciation becomes smoother.

It works in both, which is one reason it is a useful sentence for learners.

In Egyptian Arabic:

• عمي ساكن في المدينة is natural and normal.

In Modern Standard Arabic, the same wording is also understandable and correct in general meaning, though very formal reading would add case endings in fully vocalized text.

So for a learner of Egyptian Arabic, this sentence is perfectly good and very natural in everyday speech.

The participle has to agree with the person.

So:

• عمي ساكن في المدينة = my uncle is living in the city
• عمتي ساكنة في المدينة = my aunt is living in the city

Notice the change:

• ساكن for masculine
• ساكنة for feminine

This agreement is very important in Arabic.

A very natural Egyptian negative is:

عمي مش ساكن في المدينة

This means:

• My uncle is not living in the city

In Egyptian Arabic, مش is commonly used to negate nominal sentences and participle-based predicates like this one.

If you used the verb form instead, you could also say:

• عمي ما بيسكنش في المدينة

Both are natural, but with your original structure, مش ساكن is the direct match.