هذا المتحف الوطني.

This is the national museum.

Breakdown of هذا المتحف الوطني.

• هذا: this
• المتحف الوطني: national museum

Questions & Answers about هذا المتحف الوطني.

Why is there no word for is in this sentence?

Because Arabic often uses a nominal sentence in the present tense, with no explicit verb for is/am/are.

So:

• هذا المتحف الوطني = This is the national museum

In the present tense, Arabic usually just puts the parts of the sentence next to each other.
If you wanted the past or future, then a verb would appear.

For example:

• كان هذا المتحف الوطني = This was the national museum

What does هذا mean here, and why is it used?

هذا is the masculine singular demonstrative, meaning this.

It is used because المتحف (museum) is grammatically masculine singular.

So Arabic matches the demonstrative to the noun:

• هذا المتحف = this museum
• هذه المدرسة = this school (because school is feminine)

Why is it هذا and not هذه?

Because المتحف is a masculine noun.

In Arabic, demonstratives agree with the noun’s grammatical gender:

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

Since museum is masculine, هذا is the correct choice.