المشكلة شديدة.

A common Egyptian pronunciation is el-moshkela shadeeda.

A rough breakdown:

• المشكلة → el-mosh-ke-la
• شديدة → sha-dee-da

A few notes:

• الـ is usually pronounced el- in Egyptian.
• ة at the end of a word is usually pronounced like -a in pause, so مشكلة is moshkela, not moshkelat here.
• You may hear small vowel differences from speaker to speaker.

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

So:

• المشكلة شديدة literally looks like the problem severe
• but it means the problem is severe

This is completely normal in both Egyptian Arabic and Standard Arabic for present-tense sentences.

If you wanted was, will be, etc., then Arabic would use a verb:

• المشكلة كانت شديدة = the problem was severe

In Arabic, adjectives normally come after the noun they describe.

So the order is:

• noun first: المشكلة
• adjective second: شديدة

That is the normal Arabic pattern, unlike English, where we usually put the adjective first:

• English: a severe problem
• Arabic: مشكلة شديدة

In this sentence, though, the whole thing means the problem is severe, not just a severe problem. The same noun-then-adjective order still appears.

This is a very important distinction.

1) المشكلة شديدة

This is a full sentence:

• the problem is severe

Here, شديدة is the predicate of the sentence, so it does not take الـ.

2) المشكلة الشديدة

This is not a full sentence by itself. It means:

• the severe problem

Here, الشديدة is an adjective directly attached to the noun, so it does take الـ to match المشكلة.

So:

• المشكلة شديدة = The problem is severe
• المشكلة الشديدة = the severe problem

Because مشكلة is a grammatically feminine noun, and Arabic adjectives must agree with the noun they describe.

So:

• مشكلة is feminine
• therefore the adjective must also be feminine: شديدة

The masculine form would be:

• شديد

For example:

• الأمر شديد = the matter is severe
• المشكلة شديدة = the problem is severe

A common sign of the feminine form is ة at the end of the word.

It is understandable and acceptable in Egyptian Arabic, especially if pronounced in an Egyptian way, but it can sound a bit more formal or bookish than some everyday alternatives.

In everyday Egyptian, people might also say:

• المشكلة كبيرة = the problem is big / serious
• المشكلة صعبة = the problem is difficult
• المشكلة خطيرة = the problem is serious / dangerous

شديدة is not wrong at all. It just feels a little more formal depending on context.

Here شديدة means something like:

• severe
• serious
• intense

The exact English translation depends on context.

For example:

• with pain, it can mean severe
• with a crisis, it can mean serious
• with heat, it can mean intense

So in المشكلة شديدة, the idea is that the problem is not small or minor; it is strong, serious, or severe.

Yes. In fully vowelled Standard Arabic, you could see:

• المشكلةُ شديدةٌ

With transliteration:

• al-mushkilatu shadīdatun

Those final vowels are grammatical case endings used in formal Standard Arabic.

In Egyptian Arabic:

• those endings are not used
• so you just say المشكلة شديدة
• pronounced naturally as el-moshkela shadeeda

So the spelling without endings works very well for Egyptian.

You can add very in a few ways.

A more formal/common Arabic way:

• المشكلة شديدة جدًا = The problem is very severe

In Egyptian speech, people often use أوي:

• المشكلة شديدة أوي

That means roughly:

• The problem is very severe
• The problem is really bad

In very everyday Egyptian, though, you may more often hear something like:

• المشكلة كبيرة أوي
• المشكلة صعبة جدًا

depending on what kind of problem you mean.