المعنى واضح.

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

So:

• المعنى واضح = The meaning is clear

There is no missing word here; this is the normal structure.

If you wanted other tenses, then Arabic would use extra words, for example:

• كان المعنى واضحًا = The meaning was clear

ال is the Arabic definite article, equivalent to the in English.

So:

• معنى = meaning / a meaning
• المعنى = the meaning

In this sentence, المعنى is definite, so it means the meaning, not just a meaning.

This sentence has two main parts:

1. المعنى — the subject of the nominal sentence
   
   • In Arabic grammar, this is called the مبتدأ
2. واضح — the predicate or what is being said about the subject
   
   • In Arabic grammar, this is called the خبر

So the structure is:

• المعنى = the thing being talked about
• واضح = what is true about it

Because in a sentence like this, the predicate is often indefinite in Arabic.

So:

• المعنى واضح = The meaning is clear

This is the normal pattern:

• definite subject
  • indefinite predicate

If you made both words definite, that would usually not be the normal way to say The meaning is clear.

Compare:

• المعنى واضح = The meaning is clear
• المعنى الواضح = the clear meaning

The second one is not a full sentence in the same way; it is a noun phrase.

The final ى here is called alif maqṣūrah (الألف المقصورة).

Important points:

• It is pronounced like a long ā sound
• It is not pronounced like an English y here

So معنى is pronounced roughly:

• maʿnā

This spelling is normal for many Arabic words. The final ى is just part of how this noun is written.

It is pronounced approximately:

• al-maʿnā

A few pronunciation notes:

• ال = al
• مَع = maʿ
• the ع is a consonant that English does not really have
• final ى gives a long ā sound

So the end is -nā, not -ni or -ny.

It is pronounced approximately:

• wāḍiḥ

A few useful notes:

• وَا = wā
• ض is an emphatic/heavy d-type sound
• ح is a breathy, voiceless throat sound, not the ordinary English h

So the word is not quite like an English-style wadih; both ض and ح need special Arabic pronunciation.

Yes, in fully vocalized Arabic there are case endings, even though they are often not written in everyday text.

The fully vocalized form is:

• المعنى واضحٌ

What is happening here:

• المعنى is nominative as the subject
  
  • its final vowel is not visibly written in the usual way because the word ends in ى
• واضحٌ is also nominative as the predicate
  
  • the ـٌ shows this

In normal unvocalized writing, people usually just write:

• المعنى واضح

It is related to an adjective, but in this sentence it is functioning as the predicate, not as an adjective directly modifying a noun.

Compare these two:

• المعنى واضح = The meaning is clear
  
  • واضح is the predicate
• معنى واضح = a clear meaning
  
  • واضح is an adjective modifying معنى

So the same word can be used in both ways, but the structure changes the meaning.

Yes. It is a complete and perfectly normal Arabic sentence.

Arabic often forms complete present-tense statements with just:

• a subject
• a predicate

So المعنى واضح is complete by itself. Arabic does not need an extra word like is to make it into a full sentence.

معنى واضح means:

• a clear meaning
• or clear meaning

That is a noun phrase, not the same sentence.

Compare carefully:

• المعنى واضح = The meaning is clear
• معنى واضح = a clear meaning

So word order and definiteness make a big difference here.