إبريق السقي قرب الأصيص.

Because this is a nominal sentence in Arabic. In the present tense, Arabic usually does not use a separate word for is / am / are.

So:

• إبريق السقي = the watering jug / watering can
• قرب الأصيص = near the flowerpot

Together, the meaning is simply The watering jug is near the flowerpot.

If you wanted past tense, Arabic would use a verb, for example كان for was.

This is because إبريق السقي is an iḍāfa construction, often called a genitive construction or noun-noun phrase.

In an iḍāfa:

• the first noun usually does not take الـ
• the second noun determines whether the whole phrase is definite or indefinite

So here:

• إبريق = jug
• السقي = the watering / watering

Because the second word is definite, the whole phrase إبريق السقي is definite: the watering jug.

This is very common in Arabic:

• باب البيت = the door of the house
• كتاب الطالب = the student’s book

No. السقي here is not a finite verb. It is a verbal noun (called a maṣdar) from the verb سقى = to water / give water to.

So السقي means something like:

• watering
• the act of watering

That is why إبريق السقي literally means something like:

• jug of watering
• more naturally, watering jug or watering can

Arabic often uses a verbal noun in this kind of expression.

It is an iḍāfa phrase.

The pattern is:

• إبريق = the thing being described
• السقي = what it is connected to

So literally it is jug of watering.

In English, we often translate this more naturally as:

• watering jug
• watering can

Important features of iḍāfa here:

• the first noun إبريق has no الـ
• the second noun السقي is in the genitive
• the whole phrase becomes definite because السقي is definite

قرب here is best understood as a noun used adverbially, meaning near / in the vicinity of. In beginner explanations, it is often treated almost like a preposition because it functions similarly.

So:

• قرب الأصيص = near the flowerpot

Grammatically, قرب is followed by a noun in the genitive, so الأصيص comes after it.

A useful comparison:

• قرب الأصيص = near the flowerpot
• فوق الطاولة = above the table
• تحت الكرسي = under the chair

Even if you learn these as location words first, it is good to know that قرب is not exactly the same kind of word as a simple preposition in English.

Both are related to the idea of nearness, but they work differently.

• قرب means near / in the vicinity of and is used directly before a noun:

  • قرب الأصيص = near the flowerpot

• قريب is an adjective meaning near / close, and it is usually followed by من:

  • الإبريق قريبٌ من الأصيص = The jug is close to the flowerpot

So your sentence uses the structure:

• noun + قرب + noun

An alternative sentence would be:

• إبريق السقي قريبٌ من الأصيص

Both can express a similar meaning, but the grammar is different.

A full vocalized version is:

إِبْرِيقُ السَّقْيِ قُرْبَ الأَصِيصِ

A word-by-word breakdown:

• إِبْرِيقُ = ibrīqu
• السَّقْيِ = as-saqyi
• قُرْبَ = qurba
• الأَصِيصِ = al-aṣīṣi

In normal pause, many case endings are not pronounced, so a learner may often hear something closer to:

• ibrīq as-saqy qurb al-aṣīṣ

If fully inflected, the sentence is:

إِبْرِيقُ السَّقْيِ قُرْبَ الأَصِيصِ

Here is why each word has its ending:

• إِبْرِيقُ

  • nominative -u
  • because it is the subject of the nominal sentence

• السَّقْيِ

  • genitive -i
  • because it is the second term of the iḍāfa

• قُرْبَ

  • accusative -a
  • because it is a ẓarf (an adverbial expression of place)

• الأَصِيصِ

  • genitive -i
  • because it follows قرب in this construction

So the pattern is very regular once you know the grammar.

Yes. In السقي, the ل of الـ is not pronounced because س is a sun letter.

So:

• written: السقي
• pronounced: as-saqy(i)

The s sound is doubled.

By contrast, in الأصيص, the ل is pronounced because the word begins with hamza after the article, so there is no sun-letter assimilation in the same way:

• written: الأصيص
• pronounced: al-aṣīṣ(i)

So the sentence sounds roughly like:

ibrīqu s-saqyi qurba l-aṣīṣi

or in pause:

ibrīq as-saqy qurb al-aṣīṣ

Yes, it is understandable and works as a clear MSA-style expression meaning watering jug / watering can.

Literally, it is jug of watering, which is a very Arabic way to build this meaning.

Depending on context, Arabic may also use other expressions for a watering can, but for a learner, إبريق السقي is a good example of how Arabic forms compound-like meanings through iḍāfa.

It is especially useful because it teaches an important grammar pattern, not just a single vocabulary item.