الطابة جنب اللاعب.

The ball is next to the player.

Breakdown of الطابة جنب اللاعب.

• جنب: next to
• لاعب: the player
• طابة: the ball

Questions & Answers about الطابة جنب اللاعب.

How do I pronounce the whole sentence in Levantine Arabic?

A common Levantine pronunciation is:

eṭ-ṭābe janb il-lāʿeb

You may also hear iṭ-ṭābe instead of eṭ-ṭābe, depending on the speaker and region.

A quick breakdown:

• الطابة → eṭ-ṭābe
• جنب → janb
• اللاعب → il-lāʿeb

A few pronunciation notes:

• ط is a heavier, deeper t sound than regular ت
• ع in لاعب is a consonant sound from the throat
• the ة at the end of طابة is usually pronounced -e in Levantine here

Why is there no word for is in this sentence?

Because in Arabic, present-tense sentences like this often do not use a separate word for is.

So instead of saying:

The ball is next to the player

Arabic simply says:

The ball next to the player

This is very normal in both Levantine Arabic and Standard Arabic for present-time descriptions.

If you wanted past tense, then you would usually add a verb, for example the equivalent of was.

What is جنب doing here?