غرفة التبديل نظيفة.

The changing room is clean.

Breakdown of غرفة التبديل نظيفة.

• نظيف: clean
• غرفة تبديل: the changing room

Questions & Answers about غرفة التبديل نظيفة.

Why is there no word for is in this sentence?

In Arabic, the present-tense to be is usually not stated.

So:

• غرفة التبديل نظيفة literally looks like changing-room clean
• but it means The changing room is clean

This is a very normal Arabic sentence pattern, called a nominal sentence.

If you wanted a different tense, then Arabic would usually add a verb:

• كانت غرفة التبديل نظيفة = The changing room was clean
• رح تكون غرفة التبديل نظيفة = The changing room will be clean in Levantine

Why is it غرفة التبديل and not الغرفة التبديل?

Because غرفة التبديل is an iḍāfa construction, often called a possessive/genitive construction.

In an iḍāfa:

• the first noun does not take الـ
• the second noun can make the whole phrase definite

So:

• غرفة تبديل = a changing room
• غرفة التبديل = the changing room

Even though غرفة does not have الـ, the whole phrase is definite because التبديل is definite.

This is very different from English, so it is a common thing learners ask about.

What exactly does التبديل mean here?