هذا قرار سيئ.

In Arabic, the verb to be is usually not stated in the present tense.

So:

• هذا قرار سيئ = This is a bad decision
• literally: this bad decision

This is very normal in Arabic. In the present tense, Arabic often just places the parts of the sentence next to each other.

But in the past or future, Arabic does use a verb:

• كان هذا قرارًا سيئًا = This was a bad decision
• سيكون هذا قرارًا سيئًا = This will be a bad decision

هذا means this for a masculine singular noun.

Here it points to قرار (decision), which is a masculine singular noun.

So:

• هذا = this (masculine singular)
• قرار = decision

Because قرار is masculine, you use هذا, not هذه.

Compare:

• هذا قرار سيئ = This is a bad decision
• هذه فكرة سيئة = This is a bad idea
  because فكرة is feminine

Because قرار is a masculine noun.

In Arabic, demonstratives like this must match the noun’s gender:

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

Since قرار is masculine, the correct form is:

• هذا قرار سيئ

If the noun were feminine, you would use هذه:

• هذه خطة سيئة = This is a bad plan

Because in Arabic, adjectives usually come after the noun they describe.

So:

• قرار سيئ = a bad decision
• literally: decision bad

This is the normal order in Arabic:

• noun + adjective

More examples:

• كتاب جديد = a new book
• رجل طويل = a tall man
• فكرة مهمة = an important idea

So قرار سيئ follows the standard Arabic pattern.

Without ال, قرار is indefinite, so it means a decision, not the decision.

So:

• قرار = a decision
• القرار = the decision

That means:

• هذا قرار سيئ = This is a bad decision
• هذا القرار سيئ = This decision is bad

That is an important difference.

In the first sentence, the speaker is classifying something as a bad decision.
In the second, the speaker is talking about a specific decision already known.

هذا mainly matches the noun it points to, which is قرار.

The adjective سيئ matches قرار as well, because adjectives agree with the nouns they describe.

So the agreement is really centered on قرار:

• قرار = masculine singular
• سيئ = masculine singular adjective
• هذا = masculine singular demonstrative

Everything is masculine singular here, so the sentence is consistent.

If the noun changed, the other words would change too:

• هذه فكرة سيئة
  this idea is bad

Here:

• فكرة is feminine singular
• هذه is feminine singular
• سيئة is feminine singular

سيئ is commonly pronounced roughly like sayyi’.

A helpful breakdown is:

• سَ = sa
• يِّ = yyi
• ء = a glottal stop, like a brief catch in the throat

So the whole word is approximately:

• sa-yyi’

The final hamza (ء) matters. It is not just sayyi; it ends with a glottal stop.

A careful full pronunciation of the sentence is roughly:

• hādhā qarārun sayyi’un

In normal speech, short case endings are often not pronounced, so you may hear something closer to:

• hādhā qarār sayyi’

A fully vocalized version is:

هَذَا قَرَارٌ سَيِّئٌ

Word by word:

• هَذَا
• قَرَارٌ
• سَيِّئٌ

The ـٌ ending on قرار and سيئ is tanwīn ḍamm, which marks the indefinite nominative in careful Modern Standard Arabic.

In everyday reading and in most unvowelled text, these endings are usually omitted:

• هذا قرار سيئ

Because both words are in the nominative here.

In هذا قرار سيئ, the phrase قرار سيئ functions as the predicate of the sentence, and both the noun and its adjective follow normal agreement rules.

So in full case-marked Arabic:

• قَرَارٌ = nominative indefinite
• سَيِّئٌ = adjective matching it: nominative indefinite

Arabic adjectives agree with the nouns they describe in:

• gender
• number
• definiteness
• case

That is why both words are indefinite and nominative here.

They mean different things.

1. هذا قرار سيئ
   = This is a bad decision

   Here, قرار سيئ is an indefinite description.

2. هذا القرار السيئ
   = This bad decision

   Here, القرار السيئ is a definite noun phrase, not a complete sentence by itself in the same way. It means you are pointing to a specific decision and describing it as bad.

So:

• هذا قرار سيئ = full statement
• هذا القرار السيئ = noun phrase, like this bad decision

If you want a full sentence with the decision, you would say:

• هذا القرار سيئ = This decision is bad

Notice that in this version, القرار is definite, but سيئ stays without ال because it is the predicate, not an attributive adjective.

Both are correct, but they belong to different levels of pronunciation and writing.

• هذا قرار سيئ = the normal unvowelled written form
• هذا قرارٌ سيِّئٌ = the fully vocalized grammatical form

In most modern printed Arabic:

• short vowels are not written
• case endings are usually not shown
• speakers often do not pronounce full endings in ordinary speech

So as a learner:

• you should know the full grammatical form
• but you will often see and hear the simpler form

That is completely normal.

A common MSA version is:

هذا ليس قرارًا سيئًا

Here ليس means is not.

Notice that after ليس, the predicate becomes accusative, so the endings change in full grammar:

• قرارًا
• سيئًا

Without case endings, it is usually written:

• هذا ليس قرارًا سيئًا or sometimes in less fully marked text:
• هذا ليس قرارا سيئا

This is useful because it shows that the simple present sentence had no written is, but negation often uses ليس.

Not really in natural English, but that literal order helps show the Arabic structure.

A rough literal breakdown is:

• هذا = this
• قرار = decision
• سيئ = bad

But natural English needs is:

• This is a bad decision

So the Arabic structure is closer to:

• this + decision + bad

while the natural English translation is:

• this is a bad decision

That difference is one of the basic things English speakers need to get used to in Arabic.