الجواب واضح.

In Arabic, the present tense often does not use a separate word for is / am / are.

So الجواب واضح literally looks like the answer clear, but it naturally means the answer is clear.

This kind of sentence is called a nominal sentence:

• الجواب = the subject
• واضح = the predicate

If you wanted was, then Arabic would normally use كان:

• كان الجواب واضحًا = the answer was clear

A careful full reading in Modern Standard Arabic is:

al-jawābu wāḍiḥun

In pause, which is very common in normal speech and reading aloud, it is often pronounced more simply as:

al-jawāb wāḍiḥ

A few pronunciation notes:

• جواب has a long ā: jawāb
• واضح begins with a long ā after w: wāḍiḥ
• ض is an emphatic consonant, often one of the harder Arabic sounds for English speakers
• ح is a voiceless throat sound, stronger than English h

الـ is the Arabic definite article, meaning the.

So:

• جواب = an answer / answer
• الجواب = the answer

In this sentence, the noun is definite because we are talking about a specific answer: the answer.

Here it is pronounced clearly because ج is a moon letter.

With moon letters, the ل of الـ is pronounced:

• الجواب = al-jawāb

If the next letter were a sun letter, the ل sound would assimilate instead. For example:

• الشمس is pronounced ash-shams, not al-shams

Since ج is not a sun letter, you keep the l sound.

It is adjective-like in meaning, but in this sentence it functions as the predicate (خبر) of the sentence, not as an adjective directly modifying the noun.

So:

• الجواب واضح = The answer is clear

But compare that with:

• الجواب الواضح = the clear answer

That second example is a noun phrase, not a full sentence. There, الواضح is a regular adjective modifying الجواب.

A useful shortcut:

• definite noun + indefinite adjective-like word often gives a full sentence
• definite noun + definite adjective gives a noun phrase

Because it is the predicate of the sentence.

In a basic nominal sentence like this, the subject is often definite and the predicate is often indefinite:

• الجواب واضح = the answer is clear

If you said:

• الجواب الواضح

that would usually mean:

• the clear answer

So adding الـ to واضح changes the structure and meaning. It stops being the predicate and becomes an adjective attached to الجواب.

In fully inflected MSA, the sentence is:

الجوابُ واضحٌ

Both words are in the nominative case:

• الجوابُ because it is the subject (مبتدأ)
• واضحٌ because it is the predicate (خبر)

In normal pause, those endings are often not pronounced:

• الجواب واضح

So both of these are useful to recognize:

• full grammatical form: الجوابُ واضحٌ
• common paused pronunciation: الجواب واضح

Because الجواب is a masculine singular noun, and the predicate matches it in gender and number.

So:

• الجواب واضح = the answer is clear

If you used a feminine noun such as الإجابة, you would normally say:

• الإجابة واضحة

So the ending changes:

• masculine: واضح
• feminine: واضحة

Yes. That is also correct and natural.

Both جواب and إجابة can mean answer, but they are used a little differently:

• جواب often means answer/reply
• إجابة can sound a bit more formal or can emphasize the act of answering

So both of these work:

• الجواب واضح
• الإجابة واضحة

The grammar stays the same:

• definite subject
• predicate meaning clear
• no present-tense is written or spoken