العدسة اللاصقة صغيرة.

• العدسة = the lens
• اللاصقة = the adhesive / sticking / contact-type
• صغيرة = small

Together, العدسة اللاصقة means the contact lens, and صغيرة says that it is small.

A fully vowelled version is:

العَدَسَةُ اللاصِقَةُ صَغيرَةٌ

Because اللاصقة is an adjective meaning sticking or adhesive. So literally, العدسة اللاصقة is something like the sticking lens or the adhesive lens, which is how Arabic expresses contact lens.

So this is not a random combination of words; it is the normal Arabic expression for contact lens.

In Arabic, adjectives normally come after the noun they describe.

So:

• العدسة اللاصقة = the contact lens
  • literally: the lens the-contact/sticking

This is different from English, where adjectives usually come before the noun:

• English: contact lens
• Arabic: lens contact

Because when an adjective describes a definite noun in Arabic, the adjective must also be definite.

Here:

• العدسة = the lens
• اللاصقة = the sticking/contact adjective

Since the noun is definite, the adjective must match it. This is a basic rule of adjective agreement in Arabic.

So:

• عدسة لاصقة = a contact lens
• العدسة اللاصقة = the contact lens

Because صغيرة here is not an adjective inside the noun phrase the contact lens. It is the predicate of the whole sentence: is small.

This sentence is a nominal sentence:

• العدسة اللاصقة = the subject
• صغيرة = the predicate

So the structure is:

• العدسة اللاصقة صغيرة = The contact lens is small

Compare:

• العدسة اللاصقة الصغيرة = the small contact lens
  Here, الصغيرة would be an adjective describing the noun, so it would take الـ.

But in your sentence:

• العدسة اللاصقة صغيرة = The contact lens is small
  Here, صغيرة is saying something about the subject, so it stays indefinite.

In Arabic, the present tense of to be is usually not expressed with a separate word.

So:

• العدسة اللاصقة صغيرة literally looks like the contact lens small
• but it means The contact lens is small

This is completely normal in Arabic. In present-time statements, Arabic often omits is / am / are.

Because عدسة is a feminine noun, and adjectives in Arabic must agree with the noun they describe or refer to.

So:

• عدسة is feminine
• therefore:
  • اللاصقة is feminine
  • صغيرة is feminine

This agreement includes gender and number.

If the noun were masculine, the adjectives would be masculine too.

Yes, عدسة is treated as feminine.

One clue is the ending ة (called tāʾ marbūṭa), which often marks feminine nouns. It does not guarantee femininity in every single case, but it is a very common sign.

So:

• عدسة ends in ة
• therefore it is very likely feminine
• and in fact it is feminine

That is why the adjectives appear as:

• اللاصقة
• صغيرة

rather than masculine forms like اللاصق or صغير.

Because صغيرة is the feminine singular form of small.

• masculine singular: صغير
• feminine singular: صغيرة

Since العدسة is feminine singular, Arabic uses صغيرة.

So the agreement is:

• العدسة → feminine singular
• صغيرة → feminine singular

It is an adjective phrase, not an iḍāfa.

Why?

Because اللاصقة is an adjective/participle meaning sticking or adhesive, and it agrees with العدسة in definiteness and gender.

Signs that this is not iḍāfa:

• both words can take الـ
• the second word behaves like an adjective
• the second word agrees with the first

Compare:

• adjective phrase: العدسة اللاصقة
• iḍāfa would have a different structure, and the first noun would usually not take الـ

A careful fully vowelled pronunciation is:

al-ʿadasatu al-lāṣiqatu ṣaghīratun

In normal pause, the short case endings at the ends of words are usually not pronounced, so you will often hear something closer to:

al-ʿadasa al-lāṣiqa ṣaghīra

A rough pronunciation guide:

• العدسة = al-ʿa-da-sa
• اللاصقة = al-laa-si-qa
• صغيرة = sa-ghee-ra

A few notes:

• ع (ʿayn) is a consonant English does not really have
• ص is an emphatic s
• غ is a throaty sound, somewhat like a French or German r

In fully formal Arabic, the sentence is:

العَدَسَةُ اللاصِقَةُ صَغيرَةٌ

The endings are:

• العَدَسَةُ → -u because it is the subject
• اللاصِقَةُ → -u because it is an adjective matching the subject noun phrase
• صَغيرَةٌ → -un because it is the predicate of the nominal sentence and is indefinite

However, in everyday reading and speech, these final short vowels are often not pronounced.

No. As written, it means The contact lens is small.

If you wanted the small contact lens, you would normally say:

العدسة اللاصقة الصغيرة

Here, الصغيرة is definite and functions as another adjective inside the noun phrase.

So compare:

• العدسة اللاصقة صغيرة = The contact lens is small
• العدسة اللاصقة الصغيرة = the small contact lens

Yes. عدسة by itself means lens in general. It can refer to a lens in glasses, a camera, or other optical contexts.

When Arabic wants to specify contact lens, it adds اللاصقة:

• عدسة = lens
• عدسة لاصقة = contact lens
• العدسة اللاصقة = the contact lens

So the core noun is broader than the English phrase contact lens.

The pattern is:

definite noun phrase + indefinite predicate adjective

So here:

• العدسة اللاصقة = definite noun phrase
• صغيرة = indefinite predicate adjective

This is a very common Arabic sentence pattern for describing things:

• البيت كبير = The house is big
• السيارة سريعة = The car is fast
• العدسة اللاصقة صغيرة = The contact lens is small

It is a useful pattern to memorize early.