السفينة كبيرة.

In Levantine Arabic, you usually do not say a separate word for is in simple present-tense sentences like this.

So:

• السفينة كبيرة = The ship is big

This is a very common Arabic pattern: noun + adjective.

If you want another tense, then a verb may appear:

• كانت السفينة كبيرة = The ship was big
• رح تكون السفينة كبيرة = The ship will be big

So the lack of is here is completely normal.

Because السفينة is a feminine noun, and adjectives in Arabic usually agree with the noun in gender.

So:

• السفينة = feminine
• therefore كبيرة = feminine form of big

Compare:

• البيت كبير = The house is big
• السفينة كبيرة = The ship is big

The feminine ending here is the ـة in كبيرة.

This is one of the most important patterns in Arabic.

In السفينة كبيرة, the adjective is not directly describing the noun inside a noun phrase. It is the predicate of the sentence:

• السفينة = the ship
• كبيرة = big

So the whole sentence means:

• The ship is big

When an adjective is the predicate in this kind of sentence, it is normally indefinite, so it does not take الـ.

Compare:

• السفينة كبيرة = The ship is big
• السفينة الكبيرة = the big ship

That second one is not a full sentence by itself. It is just a noun phrase.

The key is definiteness.

1) السفينة كبيرة

• noun: definite
• adjective: indefinite

This means:

• The ship is big

2) السفينة الكبيرة

• noun: definite
• adjective: definite

This means:

• the big ship

So in Arabic, whether the adjective has الـ or not can completely change the structure.

A common Levantine pronunciation is approximately:

• es-sfīne kbīre

A few useful notes:

• الـ before س assimilates, because س is a sun letter
• so السفينة is pronounced more like es-sfīne rather than al-safīna
• كبيرة is commonly pronounced kbīre in Levantine

A more formal or Standard Arabic pronunciation would be closer to:

• as-safīna kabīra

So the spelling may look standard, but the spoken Levantine pronunciation is different.

Because س is a sun letter.

When الـ comes before a sun letter, the ل sound assimilates to the next consonant. So:

• السفينة is pronounced roughly as
• es-sfīne or is-sfīne depending on region and speaking style

You still write الـ, but you do not fully pronounce the l sound.

This happens with many words, for example:

• الشمس → esh-shams
• السماء → es-sama
• السفينة → es-sfīne

In Levantine, the ة at the end of a word is usually pronounced like -e.

So:

• السفينة → sfīne
• كبيرة → kbīre

In more formal Standard Arabic, these would be closer to:

• safīna
• kabīra

So this is one of the things that often changes from Standard Arabic pronunciation to Levantine pronunciation.

The writing is perfectly understandable and looks close to Standard Arabic, but a Levantine speaker can absolutely say this idea in everyday speech.

What changes most is the pronunciation, not the basic structure:

• written: السفينة كبيرة
• Levantine pronunciation: approximately es-sfīne kbīre

So for a learner, it is useful to think:

• same basic sentence pattern
• different spoken pronunciation

Not normally in everyday Levantine for this meaning.

The natural order is:

• السفينة كبيرة

That means:

• The ship is big

If you want a phrase like the big ship, Arabic still normally keeps the adjective after the noun:

• السفينة الكبيرة

So unlike English, Arabic adjectives usually come after the noun, not before it.

It is an adjective, but in this sentence it also functions as the predicate.

So grammatically, it is still the adjective big, but it is doing the job that English expresses with:

• is big

That is why:

• السفينة كبيرة literally looks like the ship big
• but naturally means The ship is big

This is a very common Arabic sentence type, so it is worth getting used to early.