هذا يحصل اليوم.

In Arabic, you usually do not use a present-tense verb meaning "to be" the way English does.

So in a sentence like this, Arabic simply says:

• هذا = this
• يحصل = happens / is happening
• اليوم = today

There is no extra word for is in the present tense.

So هذا يحصل اليوم naturally means something like:

• This happens today
• This is happening today

depending on context.

يحصل comes from the verb حصل.

In this sentence, it means:

• happens
• occurs
• takes place

So هذا يحصل اليوم means that this event is happening today.

A useful note: حصل can also have other meanings in different contexts, such as to obtain or to get, but here the meaning is clearly to happen.

Arabic present tense often covers both:

• the simple present: happens
• the present progressive: is happening

So يحصل can mean either one, depending on context.

That means هذا يحصل اليوم could be understood as:

• This happens today
• This is happening today

English forces you to choose more clearly between those two, but Arabic often does not.

هذا means this and here it functions as the subject of the sentence.

So the structure is basically:

• هذا = this
• يحصل = happens
• اليوم = today

That gives: This happens today.

Also, هذا is the masculine singular demonstrative. If the thing referred to were feminine, Arabic would usually use هذه instead.

In Arabic, demonstratives must agree with the noun they refer to.

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

So if the thing being referred to is masculine, هذا is correct.

For example:

• هذا الأمر يحصل اليوم = This matter happens today
• هذه الحادثة تحصل اليوم = This incident happens today

Even if the noun is not stated explicitly, Arabic still chooses هذا or هذه based on the implied noun.

اليوم literally means the day, but in actual usage it commonly means today.

This is very normal Arabic usage. So:

• اليوم = today

You do not need to translate the الـ literally as the every time. In this expression, the natural English meaning is simply today.

This sentence uses a very common Arabic order:

• subject + verb + time expression

So:

• هذا = subject
• يحصل = verb
• اليوم = time expression

Arabic also allows other word orders in many situations, especially for emphasis, but هذا يحصل اليوم is perfectly natural and easy for learners to understand.

It is possible to rearrange Arabic words, but يحصل هذا اليوم would usually not be the most natural way to express the same idea.

Why?

Because هذا on its own works very naturally as the subject at the beginning:

• هذا يحصل اليوم = This happens today

If you move things around, the emphasis or interpretation can change, and in some cases the sentence may sound less straightforward.

For a learner, هذا يحصل اليوم is the clearest pattern to follow.

A careful pronunciation is roughly:

• yaḥ-ṣu-lu

Important sounds:

• ح = a strong h sound from the throat, not the normal English h
• ص = an emphatic s, heavier and darker than regular س

So يحصل is not like a simple English-style yah-sul. The consonants are stronger and more distinct.

A rough learner-friendly pronunciation might be:

• yahH-sul-u

But if possible, listen to native pronunciation because ح and ص are important Arabic sounds.

Because in this sentence it functions as a time expression: today.

Grammatically, اليوم is still a noun, but its job here is adverbial: it tells you when the action happens.

So in English we translate it naturally as:

• today

This is very common in Arabic. Many nouns of time work like this.

Yes, in fully vocalized formal Arabic, the sentence would typically be:

هَذَا يَحْصُلُ الْيَوْمَ

A few notes:

• يحصلُ ends with -u because it is in the indicative mood
• اليومَ is often in the accusative here because it functions as an adverbial expression of time

However, in normal everyday writing, these short vowels are usually not written, so you will most often see:

هذا يحصل اليوم

without the endings shown.

It can be either one.

Arabic present tense is more flexible than English here, so context decides.

Use This happens today if you mean:

• this is scheduled for today
• this takes place today
• this occurs today

Use This is happening today if you mean:

• it is currently taking place today
• it is going on today

Without more context, both are possible.