هذا جنون.

This is madness.

Breakdown of هذا جنون.

• هذا: this
• جنون: madness

Questions & Answers about هذا جنون.

How do you pronounce هذا جنون?

A common pronunciation is:

hādhā junūn

More carefully in fully vocalized MSA, it is:

هٰذَا جُنُونٌ
hādhā junūnun

A few notes:

• هذا = hādhā
• جنون = junūn
• In normal pause at the end of a sentence, the final -un is usually not pronounced, so junūnun becomes junūn.

Also, the ذ sound in هذا is like the th in this.

Why is there no word for is in this sentence?

In Arabic, the verb to be in the present tense is usually omitted.

So هذا جنون literally looks like:

• this
• madness

But it naturally means:

• This is madness.

This is very normal in Arabic nominal sentences. You do not need a separate word for is here.

What does each word mean by itself?

The sentence has two words:

• هذا = this
• جنون = madness, insanity, or craziness

So the structure is basically:

• هذا = the thing being pointed to
• جنون = what it is being described as