المكواة على الترابيزة.

A beginner-friendly pronunciation is:

el-makwa ʿala et-tarabeeza

A few helpful notes:

• المكواة → el-makwa
• على → ʿala
• الترابيزة → et-tarabeeza

You may also hear small vowel differences like il- instead of el-. In fast speech, ʿala et- can sound a bit like ʿat-.

The sound written ʿ stands for ع, which does not have a direct English equivalent.

Because in Arabic, in the present tense, sentences like The iron is on the table usually do not use a separate word for is.

So:

• المكواة على الترابيزة = The iron is on the table

This is a very normal Arabic sentence pattern:
noun + place phrase

If you wanted the past, you would use a verb:

• المكواة كانت على الترابيزة = The iron was on the table

على means on.

So the structure is:

• المكواة = the iron
• على الترابيزة = on the table

It usually means physical contact or support: something is resting on top of something else.

Yes, often you can.

• المكواة على الترابيزة
• المكواة فوق الترابيزة

Both can mean The iron is on the table.

A simple way to think about it:

• على = basic, standard on
• فوق = above/on top of

In many everyday situations, Egyptians use both naturally.

Because of sun letters and moon letters.

• م in المكواة is a moon letter, so the ل in الـ is pronounced:

  • الـمكواة → el-makwa

• ت in الترابيزة is a sun letter, so the ل sound is not pronounced; it blends into the next consonant:

  • الترابيزة → et-tarabeeza

So the spelling stays the same, but the pronunciation changes.

Because both nouns are definite here:

• المكواة = the iron
• الترابيزة = the table

Arabic usually marks definiteness directly on the noun with الـ.

If you removed it, the meaning would become more like:

• مكواة = an iron
• ترابيزة = a table

So this sentence is talking about a specific iron and a specific table.

Yes, ترابيزة is a very common Egyptian Arabic word for table.

In Modern Standard Arabic, learners often meet طاولة, but in Egyptian everyday speech ترابيزة is extremely common.

So for Egyptian Arabic, this sentence sounds natural.

Yes. Here المكواة means the iron, meaning the clothes iron appliance.

It does not mean the metal iron as a material.
If you mean the metal iron, that is usually حديد.

So in this sentence, think of:

• المكواة = the thing you use to iron clothes

Yes. This is a very normal Arabic word order for a simple present-tense description.

Pattern:

• المكواة = topic / thing being talked about
• على الترابيزة = where it is

So:

• المكواة على الترابيزة
  literally: The iron on the table
  natural meaning: The iron is on the table

You can move things around in Arabic for emphasis, but this version is the neutral, straightforward one.

In normal pause pronunciation, final ة is usually pronounced like -a in Egyptian Arabic.

So:

• المكواة → ends in -a
• الترابيزة → ends in -a

That is why learners often write them as:

• makwa
• tarabeeza

Even though the spelling uses ة, the sound at the end is usually just a.

Yes, المكواة is grammatically feminine.

In this sentence, that does not cause any obvious change, because the predicate is a prepositional phrase:

• على الترابيزة = on the table

Prepositions do not change for gender here.

But gender would matter in other situations, for example with pronouns or past-tense verbs:

• هي على الترابيزة = It / she is on the table
• كانت على الترابيزة = It was on the table

In Egyptian Arabic, you would usually say:

المكواة مش على الترابيزة

Here مش means not.

So the pattern is very simple:

• المكواة على الترابيزة = The iron is on the table
• المكواة مش على الترابيزة = The iron is not on the table

Very often, you just keep the same words and use question intonation:

المكواة على الترابيزة؟
= Is the iron on the table?

In everyday Egyptian Arabic, that is completely natural.

So the statement and the yes/no question can look the same in writing; the difference is often in your voice.