الوضع صعب.

Because Arabic often uses nominal sentences in the present tense, with no verb for to be.

So:

• الوضع صعب = The situation is difficult

In English, you need is, but in Arabic, the present-tense meaning is understood automatically.

If you wanted a past or future meaning, then Arabic would use a verb, for example:

• كان الوضع صعبًا = The situation was difficult
• سيكون الوضع صعبًا = The situation will be difficult

الـ is the Arabic definite article, meaning the.

So:

• وضع = a situation / situation
• الوضع = the situation

In this sentence, الوضع is definite, so it means the situation rather than just situation.

Because in this sentence, صعب is the predicate: it tells you something about الوضع.

Arabic commonly puts:

• the topic first
• then the information about it

So:

• الوضع = the topic (the situation)
• صعب = what is being said about it (difficult)

This is the normal order for a simple nominal sentence in Arabic.

Because صعب here is not another noun being identified as definite; it is the predicate adjective.

In Arabic nominal sentences, the first part can be definite and the predicate is often indefinite:

• الوضع صعب = The situation is difficult

If you said الوضع الصعب, that would usually mean:

• the difficult situation

That is a noun + adjective phrase, not a full sentence.

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

It is functioning as a predicate adjective.

The word صعب means difficult / hard. In this sentence, it describes الوضع:

• الوضع صعب = The situation is difficult

So yes, it is adjectival in meaning, but grammatically in the sentence it is the khabar (the predicate).

Because الوضع is a masculine singular noun, and adjectives/predicates agree with it.

So:

• الوضع = masculine singular
• صعب = masculine singular

If the noun were feminine, the adjective would usually be feminine too. For example:

• المشكلة صعبة = The problem is difficult

In fully vocalized formal Arabic, it would usually be:

• الوَضْعُ صَعْبٌ
• al-waḍʿu ṣaʿbun

That is because:

• الوضعُ is the subject/topic of the nominal sentence
• صعبٌ is the predicate

In everyday writing, these short vowel endings are usually omitted, so you normally just see:

• الوضع صعب

A common transliteration is:

• al-waḍʿ

Notes:

• ض is a heavy/emphatic d sound
• ع is a consonant from the throat, not silent in careful pronunciation

So the word can feel tricky because of the cluster at the end: -ḍʿ.

Learners often simplify it at first, but in careful MSA pronunciation, both sounds are there.

A common transliteration is:

• ṣaʿb

Notes:

• ص is an emphatic s
• ع is the throat consonant
• the word ends with b

So it is not pronounced like plain saab. The ع is important in careful Arabic pronunciation.

Yes. الوضع صعب is perfectly normal in Modern Standard Arabic.

It is short, natural, and widely understandable. You could see or hear it in:

• news
• essays
• speeches
• formal conversation

It is also simple enough that similar wording may appear in everyday speech, though dialects may use different vocabulary or pronunciation.

It is a complete sentence.

That is because it has:

• الوضع = the subject/topic
• صعب = the predicate

Together they make a full statement:

• The situation is difficult

By contrast:

• الوضع الصعب = the difficult situation

That would just be a noun phrase, not a complete sentence.

The basic forms are:

• وضع — a noun meaning situation, state, or condition in this context
• صعب — an adjective meaning difficult or hard

Be aware that وضع can also be related to other meanings in Arabic depending on context, but here الوضع clearly means the situation.

Yes, often you can.

So:

• الوضع صعب can mean The situation is difficult
• and sometimes also The situation is hard

Usually difficult is the safest neutral translation in MSA study materials, but hard can sound more natural in some English contexts.