الموعد النهائي اليوم.

today

Breakdown of الموعد النهائي اليوم.

• موعد نهائي: the deadline

Questions & Answers about الموعد النهائي اليوم.

Why is there no word for is in this sentence?

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

So الموعد النهائي اليوم is a complete sentence even without a verb. In grammar terms, it is a nominal sentence:

• الموعد النهائي = the topic/subject
• اليوم = the predicate, here a time expression

So the sentence naturally means The deadline is today.

If you were talking about the past or future, Arabic would normally use a verb, for example كان or, in Levantine, رح يكون.

Why do both الموعد and النهائي have ال?

Because النهائي is an adjective describing الموعد, and in Arabic adjectives must agree with the noun they describe in definiteness.

Here:

• الموعد = the date/appointment/deadline
• النهائي = the final

So together they mean the final date or the deadline.

If the noun were indefinite, the adjective would also be indefinite:

• موعد نهائي = a final date / a deadline

This is very different from English, where the adjective does not change.

Is الموعد النهائي an iḍāfa phrase, or is النهائي just an adjective?