الحياة جميلة.

A common pronunciation is:

al-ḥayāh jamīlah

If you read it with full case endings in careful Modern Standard Arabic, it is:

al-ḥayātu jamīlatun

A few notes:

• ح = a deeper h sound, from the throat.
• ج in MSA is usually taught as j as in judge.
• The long vowels matter:
  • ḥayā has a long ā
  • jamī has a long ī
• At the end of a sentence, Arabs often pause, and final case endings are usually not pronounced. So جميلةٌ is often heard simply as جميلة.

Because Arabic often leaves out the verb to be in the present tense.

So:

• الحياة جميلة = Life is beautiful

There is no separate present-tense word like is here.

This is very normal in Arabic. It is called a nominal sentence.

Compare:

• البيت كبير = The house is big
• الجو جميل = The weather is nice

But in the past or future, Arabic does use forms of كان and related verbs:

• كانت الحياة جميلة = Life was beautiful

Because الحياة is a feminine noun, and the adjective/predicate agrees with it in gender.

So:

• الحياة = a feminine noun
• جميلة = feminine form of جميل

Compare:

• الكتاب جميل = The book is beautiful
  (كتاب is masculine)
• الحياة جميلة = Life is beautiful
  (حياة is feminine)

This kind of agreement is very important in Arabic.

Usually, nouns ending in ة (taa marbuuTa) are feminine, and حياة is one of them.

So the ending helps you recognize its gender.

However, not every feminine noun ends in ة, and not every noun ending in ة behaves exactly the same way in every context. But as a general rule for learners, ة is a strong sign that the noun is feminine.

This is one of the most useful grammar points in the sentence.

• الحياة = the life / life
• جميلة = beautiful

In a sentence like Life is beautiful, the first word is the subject, and the second is the predicate. In Arabic, the predicate is often indefinite, so it usually does not take ال.

So:

• الحياة جميلة = Life is beautiful

But if you said:

• الحياة الجميلة

that would usually mean:

• the beautiful life

That is now a noun phrase, not a complete sentence.

So the lack of ال on جميلة helps show that this is a sentence, not just a phrase.

It is a nominal sentence in Arabic.

The two parts are:

• الحياة = the subject (mubtadaʾ)
• جميلة = the predicate (khabar)

So the structure is:

subject + predicate

That is very common in Arabic, especially for simple statements in the present tense.

In fully vowelled, formal grammar, the sentence is:

الحياةُ جميلةٌ

Why?

• الحياةُ is the subject, so it is in the nominative case.
• جميلةٌ is also nominative because it is the predicate of a nominal sentence.

In everyday reading and speech, these final short vowels are often omitted, especially at the end of a sentence.

So learners very often see:

الحياة جميلة

instead of:

الحياةُ جميلةٌ

Both represent the same sentence, but the second is more fully marked.

That letter is called taa marbuuTa: ة.

Its pronunciation depends on context.

In pause, or at the end of an utterance, it is usually pronounced like -ah:

• جميلة → jamīlah
• الحياة → al-ḥayāh

But when grammatical endings are fully pronounced, or when the word is followed in connected speech in certain patterns, the t sound appears:

• جميلةٌ → jamīlatun
• الحياةُ → al-ḥayātu

So both of these are related to the same spelling.

Yes, but more specifically it is functioning as the predicate of the sentence.

That means it is describing the subject:

• الحياة جميلة = Life is beautiful

This is different from an adjective directly attached to a noun inside a noun phrase.

Compare:

1. الحياة جميلة
   = Life is beautiful
   (a complete sentence)

2. الحياة الجميلة
   = the beautiful life
   (just a noun phrase)

So جميلة is still an adjective in meaning, but here it is used as the second part of a full sentence.

Not in normal MSA if you mean beautiful life or life is beautiful.

In Arabic, adjectives normally come after the noun they describe.

So:

• حياة جميلة = a beautiful life
• الحياة الجميلة = the beautiful life

And for the sentence:

• الحياة جميلة = Life is beautiful

So Arabic does not usually say the equivalent of beautiful life with beautiful first.

Because Arabic often uses the definite article with abstract nouns in a way that English does not.

الحياة literally contains ال, but in context it can naturally mean the general idea of life, not necessarily a specific, previously mentioned the life.

This happens a lot with broad, abstract, or generic statements.

So the most natural English translation is:

• Life is beautiful

not:

• The life is beautiful

That would be:

حياة جميلة

Notice:

• no ال on حياة
• no ال on جميلة

That is because both words are indefinite.

Compare the three patterns:

• حياة جميلة = a beautiful life
• الحياة الجميلة = the beautiful life
• الحياة جميلة = Life is beautiful

These are very useful to compare, because they show the difference between a phrase and a full sentence.

Because ح is a moon letter, not a sun letter.

With moon letters, the l in ال is pronounced clearly:

• الحياة → al-ḥayāh

Compare that with a sun-letter word like:

• الشمس → pronounced ash-shams, not al-shams

So in الحياة, the article stays clearly al-.

Yes, the sentence is perfectly understandable and natural, though it feels somewhat literary or general in tone, especially in MSA.

In formal Arabic, it is completely normal.

In everyday speech, people may also say equivalent ideas in their dialects, but the exact pronunciation and sometimes the word choice can vary. Still, any Arabic speaker will understand الحياة جميلة.

It is a very common type of simple, elegant MSA sentence.