الجواب خاطئ.

A careful MSA pronunciation is:

al-jawābu khāṭiʾun

In normal pause, it is often pronounced more simply as:

al-jawāb khāṭiʾ

A few pronunciation notes:

• ج in الجواب is usually pronounced like j in judge in standard MSA teaching.
• خ in خاطئ is a throaty sound, like ch in German Bach or Scottish loch.
• The last sound in خاطئ is a hamza: a small catch in the throat, like the break in uh-oh.

Because Arabic usually leaves out the present-tense verb to be.

So:

• الجواب خاطئ literally looks like the answer wrong
• but it means The answer is wrong

This is called a nominal sentence in Arabic.

If you wanted a past or future meaning, Arabic would use an actual verb:

• كان الجواب خاطئًا = The answer was wrong
• سيكون الجواب خاطئًا = The answer will be wrong

الـ is the Arabic definite article, meaning the.

So:

• جواب = an answer / answer
• الجواب = the answer

Also, in this word, the ل in الـ is clearly pronounced because ج is a moon letter, not a sun letter. So you say al-jawāb, not something like aj-jawāb.

Because here خاطئ is the predicate of the sentence: it tells you something about الجواب.

So:

• الجواب خاطئ = The answer is wrong

But if you say:

• الجواب الخاطئ

that is usually not a full sentence. It means:

• the wrong answer

So the difference is important:

• الجواب خاطئ = a sentence
• الجواب الخاطئ = a noun phrase

In Arabic, the normal order in a simple nominal sentence is:

subject + predicate

So:

• الجواب = the subject
• خاطئ = the predicate

That gives:

• الجواب خاطئ = The answer is wrong

This is different from English, where we usually need is between them.

Because الجواب is a masculine noun, so the predicate describing it must also be masculine.

• الجواب خاطئ = correct for a masculine noun

If the noun were feminine, the adjective/predicate would also be feminine:

• الإجابة خاطئة = The answer is wrong

So this is a good example of gender agreement in Arabic.

In normal Arabic writing, short vowels are usually not written.

So الجواب خاطئ is the usual spelling.

If you fully vowel it, you could write:

• الجوابُ خاطئٌ

Those endings are the grammatical case endings:

• الجوابُ has -u
• خاطئٌ has -un

But in everyday printed Arabic, these are usually omitted, and in pause they are often not pronounced anyway.

خاطئ means wrong, mistaken, or in error, depending on context.

It comes from the root خ ط أ, which has to do with making a mistake or being mistaken.

In grammar terms, خاطئ is an active participle. Arabic uses forms like this very often as adjectives.

So even though it has a verbal origin, here it functions like an adjective:

• الجواب خاطئ = The answer is wrong

The last sound is a hamza (ء), which is a glottal stop.

So خاطئ is approximately:

khā-tiʾ

You should not smooth it out into something like khātee. The final hamza makes a small break at the end.

A useful comparison in English is the catch in the middle of uh-oh.

In خاطئ, the hamza is written on ئ because of standard Arabic spelling rules for hamza.

The key idea is that the seat of the hamza depends on the surrounding vowels. Here, the vowel before the hamza is a kasra-type sound, so the hamza is written on ئ.

So the spelling is:

• خاطئ

not:

• خاطء
• خاطأ

This is a spelling issue that many learners find tricky, so it is very normal to ask about it.

Yes, but it means something slightly different.

• جواب خاطئ = a wrong answer
• الجواب خاطئ = The answer is wrong

So:

• without الـ, it is usually an indefinite noun phrase
• with الـ on الجواب, it can be a full sentence meaning the answer is wrong

They are close in meaning, and in many situations both can mean answer, but there can be a slight difference in usage.

Often:

• جواب suggests reply / response / answer
• إجابة can sound a bit more like an answer to a question, especially in formal contexts

So both of these are natural:

• الجواب خاطئ
• الإجابة خاطئة

The second one is feminine because إجابة is feminine.