المحكمة في المدينة.

In Arabic, the present tense of to be is usually not stated.

So المحكمة في المدينة literally looks like:

• the court
• in the city

But it naturally means:

• The court is in the city.

This is a very common Arabic sentence pattern:
noun + prepositional phrase = X is in Y

If you wanted the past tense, then Arabic would use a verb, for example:

• كانت المحكمة في المدينة = The court was in the city.

في means in.

It is a preposition, and here it introduces the location:

• في المدينة = in the city

So the whole sentence is built like this:

• المحكمة = the court
• في المدينة = in the city

Together: The court is in the city.

الـ is the Arabic definite article, meaning the.

So:

• محكمة = a court / court
• المحكمة = the court

and

• مدينة = a city / city
• المدينة = the city

In this sentence, both nouns are definite:

• المحكمة = the court
• المدينة = the city

After a preposition such as في, the following noun is in the genitive case in full Modern Standard Arabic.

So grammatically, المدينة here is genitive. In fully vowelled Arabic, you would write it as:

• المحكمةُ في المدينةِ

Notice the ending ـِ on المدينةِ.

However, in normal unvowelled writing, that case ending is usually not written, so you just see المدينة.

It is pronounced approximately al-mah-ka-mah.

A more careful breakdown:

• ال = al-
• مح = mah
• كم = kam
• ة at the end is pronounced like -ah when pausing

So when said by itself or at the end of a phrase:

• المحكمة ≈ al-mah-ka-mah

In full grammatical pronunciation inside connected speech, it may be:

• al-mahkamatu in nominative contexts

But learners usually first hear and say the pause form:

• al-mahkama(h)

That letter is called tāʾ marbūṭa (ة).

It often marks a noun as feminine.

So both words are grammatically feminine:

• محكمة = court
• مدينة = city

When stopping at the end of a word, ة is usually pronounced like -ah.
When the word is followed by another word in a grammatical connection, it can sound like -t in full formal pronunciation.

For example:

• مدينة by itself: madīnah
• In a connected phrase like مدينةُ القاهرةِ: the t sound appears more clearly

Yes, المحكمة is grammatically feminine.

In this specific sentence, it does not change much, because there is no adjective or past-tense verb agreeing with it.

But if you added an adjective, it would need to be feminine too:

• المحكمة كبيرة = The court is big

Here كبيرة is feminine to match المحكمة.

If you used a past-tense verb:

• كانت المحكمة في المدينة = The court was in the city

The verb كانت is feminine singular to agree with المحكمة.

In fully vocalized formal Arabic, the sentence would normally be:

• المحكمةُ في المدينةِ

Why?

• المحكمةُ is the subject of the nominal sentence, so it is nominative
• المدينةِ comes after the preposition في, so it is genitive

So the endings are:

• المحكمةُ
• المدينةِ

In everyday reading and writing, these short vowel endings are usually omitted.

Yes. Arabic can sometimes change word order for emphasis.

The basic neutral version is:

• المحكمة في المدينة. = The court is in the city.

You could also say:

• في المدينة المحكمة.

But this sounds more marked and less neutral in many contexts. The original sentence is the most straightforward form for learners.

So for normal use, stick with:

• المحكمة في المدينة.

It is a complete sentence in Arabic.

English usually requires is:

• The court is in the city.

Arabic does not need a present-tense is, so:

• المحكمة في المدينة

is already a full sentence, not just a fragment.

This kind of sentence is called a nominal sentence in Arabic.

In many spoken varieties, the sentence would be very similar, but pronunciation may change.

For example, in many dialects:

• المحكمة may sound slightly different from the full MSA pronunciation
• case endings like ـُ and ـِ are usually not pronounced

So while MSA grammar explains the sentence as:

• المحكمةُ في المدينةِ

what people actually say in normal speech is usually closer to:

• المحكمة في المدينة

without the formal endings.

That makes this sentence a good example of something that works clearly in both MSA and speech, even if pronunciation details vary.