الوكالة في المدينة.

In Arabic, the present-tense verb to be is usually not written or spoken in simple sentences like this.

So الوكالة في المدينة literally looks like the agency in the city, but it means the agency is in the city.

This is called a nominal sentence in Arabic. The meaning of is is understood automatically.

If you wanted a past tense, Arabic would use a verb, for example كانت الوكالة في المدينة = The agency was in the city.

الـ is the Arabic definite article, meaning the.

So:

• وكالة = an agency / agency
• الوكالة = the agency
• مدينة = a city / city
• المدينة = the city

In this sentence, both nouns are definite:

• الوكالة = the agency
• المدينة = the city

في is a preposition meaning in or sometimes at, depending on context.

Here it introduces the location:

• في المدينة = in the city

So في works very much like English in in this sentence.

Because في is a preposition, and prepositions in Arabic make the following noun genitive.

So in full vowel marking, the sentence is:

• الوكالةُ في المدينةِ

Notice:

• الوكالةُ ends in -u because it is the subject of the nominal sentence
• المدينةِ ends in -i because it comes after the preposition في

In normal Arabic writing, these short vowels are usually not written, so you usually just see:

• الوكالة في المدينة

The sentence has two main parts:

• الوكالة — the subject of the nominal sentence
• في المدينة — a prepositional phrase that functions as the predicate

In Arabic grammar terms:

• الوكالة = مبتدأ
• في المدينة = خبر

So the structure is:

• Subject + location phrase

which gives the meaning The agency is in the city.

It is pronounced approximately al-wikāla in pause.

A careful full reading with case ending would be al-wikālatu.

A few pronunciation notes:

• و here sounds like w
• كا has a long ā
• the final ة is usually pronounced like a or ah when you stop

So for most learning purposes, al-wikāla is a good pronunciation.

The final ة is called tāʾ marbūṭa.

In this sentence, if you stop at the word, it is usually pronounced as -a or -ah:

• الوكالة → al-wikāla

But in connected grammatical reading, it can sound like -t when a case ending is clearly pronounced:

• الوكالةُ → al-wikālatu

So learners often think of ة as:

• -a / -ah when pausing
• sometimes -t in grammatical or connected pronunciation

Yes, in both words you pronounce the l of الـ.

That is because:

• و in الوكالة is a moon letter
• م in المدينة is also a moon letter

With moon letters, the l in الـ is pronounced clearly:

• al-wikāla
• al-madīna

If the next letter were a sun letter, the l would assimilate instead.

Because most everyday Arabic writing leaves out short vowels and case endings.

So learners usually see:

• الوكالة في المدينة

But the fully vocalized form would be:

• الوكالةُ في المدينةِ

This is normal in Arabic. Native readers understand the grammar from context even when the short vowels are not written.

You would usually remove الـ from both nouns:

• وكالةٌ في مدينةٍ

Without full vowel marks, that would normally be written:

• وكالة في مدينة

So the contrast is:

• الوكالة في المدينة = the agency is in the city
• وكالة في مدينة = an agency in a city or agency in a city, depending on context

This is a useful pattern to notice: adding or removing الـ changes whether the noun is definite or indefinite.