الحكومة مهمة.

A natural Egyptian pronunciation is:

el-ḥokūma mohemma

A slightly more careful, dictionary-style pronunciation would be:

al-ḥukūma muhimma

A few helpful notes:

• الـ is often heard as el- or il- in Egyptian.
• ح is a deeper, throatier sound than normal English h.
• The final ة in both words is pronounced like -a here, not like -t.

So for a learner, el-ḥokūma mohemma is a good working pronunciation.

الـ is the Arabic definite article, equivalent to the in English.

So:

• حكومة = government
• الحكومة = the government

In Egyptian Arabic, الـ is usually pronounced el- or il-.

In Arabic, the present-tense is/am/are is usually omitted.

So:

• الحكومة مهمة literally looks like the government important
• but it means The government is important

This is completely normal Arabic grammar.
In the past or future, you would usually use a verb:

• الحكومة كانت مهمة = The government was important
• in Egyptian: الحكومة هتبقى مهمة = The government will be important

Arabic normally puts adjectives after the noun they describe.

But in this sentence, مهمة is not just an adjective inside a noun phrase. It is the predicate of the sentence.

So the structure is:

• الحكومة = the subject
• مهمة = the predicate adjective

That gives:

الحكومة مهمة = The government is important

So although it looks like noun + adjective, grammatically it is a full sentence.

Because حكومة is grammatically feminine, the adjective must agree with it.

So:

• masculine: مهم
• feminine: مهمة

Since حكومة is feminine, Arabic uses مهمة.

This kind of agreement is very common in Arabic: adjectives usually match the noun in gender and number.

That letter is called tāʾ marbūṭa (ة).

It often marks feminine words. That is why both حكومة and مهمة look feminine.

In pronunciation:

• at the end of a pause, it usually sounds like -a
• in some connected forms, it can sound like -t

So here you say:

• ḥokūma
• mohemma

But in other contexts, the t may appear.

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

So:

• الحكومة مهمة = The government is important

The first word is definite (the government), but the predicate adjective does not take الـ here.

If you added الـ to the adjective, you would change the structure and meaning.

This is a very important distinction:

• الحكومة مهمة = The government is important
• الحكومة المهمة = the important government

Why?

Because when a noun and adjective are both definite, the adjective is describing the noun inside one noun phrase:

• الحكومة المهمة = the important government

But when the first word is definite and the second is indefinite, it often makes a full sentence:

• الحكومة مهمة = The government is important

So this difference in definiteness is one of the main clues to the meaning.

It works in both Egyptian Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic.

The spelling:

الحكومة مهمة

is perfectly normal in both.

The main difference is pronunciation:

• MSA-style: al-ḥukūma muhimma
• Egyptian-style: el-ḥokūma mohemma

So a learner of Egyptian can safely use this sentence, especially with Egyptian pronunciation.

In this sentence, مهمة is an adjective meaning important.

But in other contexts, مهمة can also be a noun meaning mission or task.

For example:

• عندي مهمة = I have a task / mission

So Arabic learners often notice this double meaning.
Here, though, because of the structure الحكومة مهمة, it clearly means important, not a mission.