السباك يعرف يصلح الحنفية.

A natural Egyptian-style pronunciation is roughly:

es-sabbāk beyiʿraf yeṣallaḥ el-ḥanafiyya

A few notes:

• السباك is pronounced es-sabbāk, not al-sabbāk, because the l of ال blends into the s sound.
• يعرف contains ع, a throat sound that English does not have. You can first approximate it as ye-raf and improve it over time.
• يصلح here is understood as yeṣallaḥ = fix/repair.
• الحنفية is el-ḥanafiyya. The ح is a stronger, breathier sound than English h.

If you pronounce it more slowly and approximately, es-sabbak beyaʿraf yesallaḥ el-ḥanafiyya will still be understandable.

Because in Egyptian Arabic, يعرف + verb often means to know how to do something.

So:

• يعرف = he knows
• يصلح = he fixes / to fix

Together:

• يعرف يصلح = he knows how to fix

English uses to fix, but Arabic usually does not use a separate infinitive word like to here. It just uses another verb form after يعرف.

Very often, yes. In everyday Egyptian speech, you would commonly hear:

السباك بيعرف يصلح الحنفية

That sounds more naturally colloquial for The plumber knows how to fix the faucet or The plumber can fix the faucet.

Why, then, do you sometimes see يعرف without بـ?

• Some teaching materials simplify forms.
• Some sentences are written in a style halfway between colloquial and Standard Arabic.
• In casual writing, people are not always fully consistent.

So for spoken Egyptian, بيعرف is usually the safer, more natural choice.

Because of the context: a plumber and a faucet.

Also, there is an important spelling issue here. In careful writing, to fix/repair is often written:

يصلّح

That little doubled consonant, called shadda, changes the sense. In everyday writing, shadda is often left out, so يصلح may be standing in for يصلّح.

So in this sentence, learners should understand it as:

• يصلّح = repair, fix

not as the different meaning be suitable / be okay.

In Egyptian Arabic, الحنفية means the faucet or the tap.

Depending on context, English could translate it as:

• faucet
• tap

It does not mean sink.
If you want sink, that is a different word, such as الحوض.

Because both nouns are definite here:

• السباك = the plumber
• الحنفية = the faucet / the tap

So the sentence is talking about a specific plumber and a specific faucet, or at least about them as definite items in context.

If you wanted a plumber or a faucet, you would normally remove ال:

• سباك = a plumber
• حنفية = a faucet

Because subject-first order is very common in Egyptian Arabic.

So:

• السباك بيعرف يصلح الحنفية = The plumber knows how to fix the faucet

This is completely normal and natural.

Arabic can also use verb-first structures in many situations, but in everyday Egyptian, starting with the subject is extremely common, especially in simple statements.

Literally, it means know, but in this structure it often functions like know how to and can sound close to can.

So:

• يعرف يصلح الحنفية = he knows how to fix the faucet
• In natural English, that may also be expressed as he can fix the faucet

But there is a nuance:

• يعرف stresses skill/know-how
• يقدر often stresses ability/being able to manage it

So:

• السباك بيعرف يصلح الحنفية = the plumber knows how to fix the faucet
• السباك يقدر يصلح الحنفية = the plumber is able to fix the faucet / can fix the faucet

They are similar, but not exactly identical.

Yes. يعرف is a very common verb with several related uses.

For example:

• يعرف أحمد = he knows Ahmed
• يعرف العنوان = he knows the address
• يعرف يصلح الحنفية = he knows how to fix the faucet

So when يعرف is followed by another verb, it usually means know how to do that action.

Yes, but then the meaning changes slightly.

• يعرف يصلح الحنفية or more naturally بيعرف يصلح الحنفية means he knows how to fix the faucet
• السباك بيعرف يصلح الحنفية means the plumber knows how to fix the faucet

So if you omit السباك, the subject becomes just he, understood from the verb.

That is very common in Arabic, because the verb itself already shows person and gender.

This is because of sun letters and moon letters.

• In السباك, the next letter is س, which is a sun letter. The l sound of ال disappears in pronunciation, so you say es-sabbāk.
• In الحنفية, the next letter is ح, which is a moon letter. The l is pronounced, so you say el-ḥanafiyya.

So even though both words are written with ال, they are not pronounced the same way.