هذا الموقف فظيع.

Because Arabic often uses a nominal sentence in the present tense, with no written or spoken verb for is/am/are.

So:

• هذا = this
• الموقف = the situation / the موقف
• فظيع = terrible

Literally, Arabic says something like:

This situation terrible.

But in natural English, that becomes:

This situation is terrible.

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

• كان هذا الموقف فظيعًا = This situation was terrible.

هذا is the demonstrative pronoun meaning this for a masculine singular noun.

In this sentence, it points to الموقف, which is a masculine singular noun:

• هذا الموقف = this situation

A very common pattern in Arabic is:

• هذا + definite noun

So you will often see things like:

• هذا الكتاب = this book
• هذا الرجل = this man
• هذا الموقف = this situation

Because الموقف is grammatically masculine.

In Arabic, demonstratives must agree with the noun in gender:

• هذا = this (masculine singular)
• هذه = this (feminine singular)

Since موقف is masculine, you say:

• هذا الموقف

If the noun were feminine, you would use هذه, for example:

• هذه المشكلة = this problem

This is one of the most important patterns in Arabic.

Here, الموقف is the subject, and it is definite:

• الموقف = the situation

But فظيع is the predicate after is, and in Arabic predicates are often indefinite:

• فظيع = terrible

So:

• هذا الموقف فظيع = This situation is terrible.

If you said:

• هذا الموقف الفظيع

that would usually mean:

• this terrible situation

In other words:

• فظيع without الـ = terrible as the predicate
• الفظيع with الـ = the terrible as an adjective describing the noun directly

This is a very common distinction.

It is an adjective in meaning, but in the sentence it functions as the predicate of the nominal sentence.

So grammatically, the structure is:

• هذا الموقف = the topic / subject
• فظيع = what is being said about it

You can think of it as:

• This situation
  • is terrible

Even though فظيع is an adjective, it is not directly attached to الموقف as an attributive adjective here. It is the predicate.

Compare:

• هذا الموقف فظيع = This situation is terrible.
• هذا الموقف الفظيع = This terrible situation.

In fully vocalized formal Arabic, case endings can appear, but in normal everyday writing they are usually not written.

A fully vowelled version could be:

• هٰذا الموقفُ فظيعٌ

Here:

• الموقفُ ends in -u because it is the subject
• فظيعٌ ends in -un because it is an indefinite predicate

But most Arabic texts leave these short vowels off, so you normally just see:

• هذا الموقف فظيع

Also, when pausing at the end of a sentence, those endings are often not pronounced in normal speech.

فظيع is commonly transliterated as faẓīʿ.

A rough pronunciation guide:

• ف = f
• ظ = an emphatic z-like sound
• ي here gives a long ee
• ع is a deep throat sound with no exact English equivalent

So the word is approximately:

• fa-ZEE‘
  but this is only an approximation.

Two sounds may be difficult for English speakers:

1. ظ

   • It is not a plain English z
   • It is a heavier, emphatic consonant

2. ع

   • This sound does not exist in English
   • It comes from the throat

If you cannot pronounce ع perfectly at first, that is normal.

In this sentence, موقف means something like:

• situation
• circumstance
• incident
• moment

Its exact meaning depends on context.

Although the root is related to standing or stopping, موقف has several meanings in Arabic, such as:

• a situation
• a موقف or stance
• a stop or station in some contexts

Here, because of the sentence meaning, it is understood as situation.

In standard Arabic, هذا الموقف فظيع is the normal and natural order.

Arabic is somewhat flexible, but this structure is the standard one for a sentence like this:

• demonstrative + noun + predicate

So:

• هذا الموقف فظيع

is the best model to learn.

You may sometimes encounter different word orders for emphasis in advanced or literary Arabic, but for a learner, this sentence is the standard pattern to remember.

Yes, but it changes the nuance.

• هذا الموقف فظيع = This situation is terrible.
• هذا موقف فظيع = This is a terrible situation.

In the first sentence, الموقف is definite: you are talking about a specific known situation.

In the second, موقف is indefinite: you are classifying it as a terrible situation.

Both are possible, but they do not mean exactly the same thing.

You would change the demonstrative to match the noun’s gender.

For a feminine singular noun:

• هذه المشكلة فظيعة = This problem is terrible.

Notice two things change:

1. هذا becomes هذه
2. فظيع becomes فظيعة to agree with the feminine noun

So Arabic agreement affects both the demonstrative and, in many cases, the adjective/predicate.

It is perfectly good Modern Standard Arabic and completely correct.

In everyday spoken Arabic, people may use different words or pronunciations depending on the dialect, but the MSA sentence is natural and useful, especially in:

• writing
• news
• formal speech
• educational contexts

So it is definitely worth learning as a model sentence.