هذا تدريب تعريفي.

A careful full reading is:

hādhā tadrībun taʿrīfiyyun

In normal everyday reading, the case endings are often not pronounced, so you may hear something closer to:

hādhā tadrīb taʿrīfiyy

A few pronunciation notes:

• هذا = hādhā, with a long ā
• ذ sounds like th in this
• تدريب = tadrīb, with a long ī
• تعريفي = taʿrīfiyy, where ع is the Arabic letter ʿayn, and the yy sound is doubled

Because Arabic usually leaves out the present-tense verb to be in simple sentences like this.

So:

• هذا تدريب تعريفي = This is an introductory exercise

There is no separate word for is here. This is very normal in Arabic.

Because تدريب is a masculine singular noun.

In Arabic, this changes depending on gender:

• هذا = this for masculine singular
• هذه = this for feminine singular

Since تدريب is masculine, هذا is the correct form.

It is a nominal sentence.

Very roughly:

• هذا = the topic / subject-like part
• تدريب تعريفي = the predicate, telling you what this is

So the sentence structure is basically:

• This
  • introductory exercise

which Arabic uses to mean:

• This is an introductory exercise

Because Arabic adjectives normally come after the noun they describe.

So:

• تدريب = exercise / training
• تعريفي = introductory

Together:

• تدريب تعريفي = an introductory exercise

This is the normal Arabic order:

• noun + adjective

not:

• adjective + noun

Because it matches تدريب the way Arabic adjectives do.

Arabic adjectives agree with the noun in:

• gender
• number
• definiteness
• case

Here both words are:

• masculine
• singular
• indefinite
• nominative

So تعريفي is describing تدريب, not forming a different kind of noun phrase.

No. Here تعريفي is an adjective, not a possessive form.

This is a very common learner question, because -ي can sometimes mean my. But in this word, the ending is part of the adjective itself.

The fully vocalized form is:

تَعْرِيفِيٌّ

This is a nisba adjective, meaning something like:

• introductory
• definitional
• explanatory / for introduction

So here it does not mean my.

A fully vocalized version is:

هٰذَا تَدْرِيبٌ تَعْرِيفِيٌّ

Why -un on the last two words?

Because in this sentence:

• تدريبٌ is the predicate, so it is nominative
• تعريفيٌّ is an adjective describing it, so it matches and is also nominative

In normal Arabic writing, these short vowels are usually not written.

No. It is not an iḍāfa.

It is:

• noun + adjective

So:

• تدريب تعريفي = an introductory exercise

In an iḍāfa, the second word would be a noun in a genitive relationship, like exercise of introduction/definition, which is not what is happening here.

A quick clue is that تعريفي is acting like an adjective, not a possessed noun.

They are different structures.

• هذا تدريب تعريفي = This is an introductory exercise

  • a full sentence
  • the predicate is indefinite

• هذا التدريب التعريفي = this introductory exercise

  • a noun phrase
  • all the relevant words are definite

So adding الـ changes the structure and meaning quite a bit.

تدريب can mean things like:

• training
• practice
• drill
• exercise

In a learning context, it often means:

• exercise
• practice activity

So in this sentence, introductory exercise or introductory practice activity is a natural understanding.