اليوم عيد.

Because Arabic usually leaves out the present-tense to be in simple statements.

So اليوم عيد is literally something like today, a holiday, but the natural English meaning is Today is a holiday.

This is very common in Modern Standard Arabic. Compare:

• الجو جميل = The weather is beautiful
• أنا طالب = I am a student
• اليوم عيد = Today is a holiday / Today is Eid

If you want past or future, Arabic normally uses a verb such as كان or سيكون.

It can mean both, depending on context.

Literally, اليوم is the day, because it has the definite article الـ. But in very common usage, اليوم also means today.

So in this sentence, learners should understand اليوم as today.

This is a very common Arabic pattern.

In a basic nominal sentence, the first noun is often definite, and the second part, which gives new information about it, is often indefinite.

So:

• اليوم = definite, today
• عيد = indefinite, a holiday / a festival

That makes the structure very natural in Arabic.

If you said اليوم العيد, that would sound more like Today is the holiday / Eid, with a more specific or marked meaning.

In a beginner-friendly analysis, this is a nominal sentence:

• اليوم = the subject/topic, called مبتدأ
• عيد = the predicate/comment, called خبر

So the sentence is built like:

• today
  • holiday

In other words, Arabic is presenting today as the topic, then telling you what it is.

A common fully vowelled form is:

اليومُ عيدٌ

This can be pronounced roughly as al-yawmu ʿīdun.

But in normal Arabic writing, those short vowel endings are usually not written. And when pausing at the end of a sentence, speakers often do not pronounce the final short vowels anyway, so you may hear something closer to:

al-yawm ʿīd

Yes.

In اليوم, the ل of الـ is pronounced, because ي is a moon letter, not a sun letter.

So it is pronounced:

al-yawm

not ay-yawm

The first letter is ع, called ʿayn.

This sound does not have a real equivalent in English, which is why many English-speaking learners find it difficult.

A rough guide:

• it is a consonant
• it is made deep in the throat
• it is not just a plain vowel sound

So عيد is not simply eed. It is more like ʿeed, with that throat consonant at the beginning.

Even if a beginner cannot produce ع perfectly at first, it is good to be aware that the sound is there.

Because ordinary Arabic script usually leaves out short vowels and tanwīn.

So although a fully vowelled form may be عيدٌ, normal writing often shows only:

عيد

This is completely normal. Arabic readers are expected to supply the short vowels from grammar and context.

Yes, but the emphasis changes.

For example:

• اليوم عيد = Today is a holiday / Today is Eid
• العيد اليوم = The holiday is today / Eid is today

Both are possible, but they do not focus on exactly the same thing. The original sentence puts the spotlight on today.

By itself, عيد is a regular noun meaning festival or holiday.

Depending on context, it can refer to:

• a holiday in general
• a feast or festival
• specifically Eid, if the situation makes that clear

If Arabic wants to be very specific, it may say things like:

• عيد الفطر
• عيد الأضحى

So in اليوم عيد, the exact interpretation depends on context, even though the grammar stays the same.