المنحوتة متل شجرة.

A common Levantine pronunciation is:

il-manḥūte mitl shajra

A few notes:

• الـ is often pronounced il- or el-
• منحوتة sounds like manḥūte
• متل sounds like mitl
• شجرة is commonly pronounced shajra in Levantine, not shajara as in more formal Arabic

So the whole sentence flows roughly like:

il-manḥūte mitl shajra

In Levantine Arabic, as in Arabic generally, the verb to be is usually omitted in the present tense.

So instead of saying:

• The sculpture is like a tree

Arabic simply says:

• المنحوتة متل شجرة

This is completely normal. The idea of is is understood automatically.

If you wanted past or future, then a verb can appear, for example with كان for was.

متل means like or similar to in Levantine Arabic.

So:

• متل شجرة = like a tree

This is a very common colloquial Levantine word. In Modern Standard Arabic, you would more often see مثل. In Levantine, متل is the everyday form.

Examples:

• هو متل أخوه = He is like his brother
• هاللون متل البحر = This color is like the sea

Because المنحوتة means the sculpture, while شجرة here means a tree.

So the sentence is:

• المنحوتة = the sculpture
• متل شجرة = like a tree

If you said متل الشجرة, that would mean like the tree, referring to a specific tree.

So the lack of الـ on شجرة matches the English idea like a tree, not like the tree.

المنحوتة means the sculpture or the carving.

It comes from the root related to carving or sculpting. In Levantine, this word can refer to a sculpted object, an artwork, or something carved.

The ending -ة shows that the noun is grammatically feminine, which is very common for many object nouns in Arabic.

Yes, المنحوتة is grammatically feminine.

In this specific sentence, it does not change much, because متل does not need to agree in gender. So whether the noun is masculine or feminine, متل stays the same.

For example:

• الكتاب متل دفتر = The book is like a notebook
• المنحوتة متل شجرة = The sculpture is like a tree

So yes, المنحوتة is feminine, but that does not affect متل.

That is a typical Levantine feature.

In Modern Standard Arabic, the word is usually pronounced:

• shajara

In Levantine, short vowels in the middle of a word are often reduced or dropped, so it becomes:

• shajra

This kind of vowel reduction is very common in spoken Levantine Arabic.

So in writing you may see شجرة, but in speech you will often hear shajra.

It is clearly Levantine-style Arabic because of متل.

In Modern Standard Arabic, a more formal version would usually be:

• المنحوتة مثل شجرة

or even a more literary phrasing depending on context.

What makes your sentence feel colloquial/Levantine is mainly:

• متل instead of مثل
• the expected spoken pronunciation, such as shajra

So this is the kind of sentence you could naturally hear in Levantine speech.

Yes. People will understand it, and it sounds a bit more formal or closer to Standard Arabic.

In everyday Levantine, متل is more natural:

• المنحوتة متل شجرة

Using مثل is not wrong, but it may sound less colloquial in ordinary conversation.

This word order is the most straightforward:

• المنحوتة متل شجرة

It starts with the thing being described, then gives the comparison.

You generally would not change it much unless you were emphasizing something. For a learner, this is the best pattern to remember:

[noun] + متل + [noun]

Examples:

• البيت متل قصر = The house is like a palace
• صوتها متل الموسيقى = Her voice is like music

No. Because of متل, it means the sculpture is like a tree, not that it actually is a tree.

Compare:

• المنحوتة متل شجرة = The sculpture is like a tree
• المنحوتة شجرة = The sculpture is a tree

So متل is the key word that makes it a comparison.

No. In Levantine Arabic, you normally do not use the case endings that belong to formal Modern Standard Arabic.

So in normal speech, you just say:

• المنحوتة متل شجرة

without adding formal endings like -u, -a, or -i.

That is one reason spoken Levantine feels simpler for many learners than formal Arabic grammar.