تشمل معدات السلامة مطفأة حريق.

Yes. In Modern Standard Arabic, it is very common to begin a sentence with the verb. This is called a verbal sentence.

So in:

تشمل معدات السلامة مطفأة حريق

the order is:

• تشمل = the verb, includes
• معدات السلامة = the subject, safety equipment
• مطفأة حريق = the object, a fire extinguisher

English usually prefers subject + verb + object, but Arabic very often uses verb + subject + object.

You could also rearrange it for emphasis, but the given order is very natural.

Because the subject معدات is treated as feminine singular for agreement purposes here.

A few things are going on:

• معدات is the plural of مُعَدَّة / مُعِدَّة depending on meaning and pattern, but as a non-human plural, it commonly takes feminine singular agreement in Arabic.
• That is why the verb is تشمل rather than يشمل.

This is a very important rule in Arabic:

• Non-human plurals often behave grammatically like feminine singular nouns.

So even though معدات refers to multiple pieces of equipment, the verb appears in the feminine singular form.

Yes, it is one noun phrase, and it is an example of إضافة (iḍāfa), often called the construct phrase.

It literally means:

• معدات = equipment
• السلامة = safety

Together:

• معدات السلامة = equipment of safety
• natural English: safety equipment

In an iḍāfa:

1. the first noun does not take ال
2. the second noun often determines whether the whole phrase is definite

So:

• معدات السلامة = the safety equipment / safety equipment, depending on context

Because السلامة is definite with ال, the whole phrase is definite.

That is a standard feature of iḍāfa.

In Arabic, when two nouns are linked like X of Y:

• the first noun usually does not take ال
• the second noun can be definite or indefinite

So:

• معدات السلامة not
• المعدات السلامة

The definiteness comes from the second noun:

• معدات سلامة = safety equipment / equipment for safety, more indefinite
• معدات السلامة = the safety equipment / safety equipment, with a more definite sense

This pattern is extremely common in Arabic.

Yes. مطفأة حريق is indefinite, so it means a fire extinguisher.

This is also an iḍāfa-like structure:

• مطفأة = extinguisher
• حريق = fire

Together:

• مطفأة حريق = fire extinguisher

Because there is no ال making it definite, the phrase is understood as a fire extinguisher, not the fire extinguisher.

If you wanted the fire extinguisher, you would normally say:

• مطفأة الحريق

Yes, literally it is something like extinguisher of fire. Arabic often builds compound nouns this way.

So instead of creating one single combined word like English sometimes does, Arabic frequently uses a noun + noun structure.

Examples of the same pattern:

• باب البيت = the door of the house = the house door
• مدير المدرسة = the director of the school = the school principal
• مطفأة حريق = extinguisher of fire = fire extinguisher

This is a very common and useful pattern to learn.

The subject is:

• معدات السلامة

The object is:

• مطفأة حريق

Even though the subject comes after the verb, it is still the subject.

So the structure is:

• تشمل = verb
• معدات السلامة = subject
• مطفأة حريق = direct object

That can feel unusual to an English speaker, because English relies more heavily on word order. Arabic uses both word order and grammatical structure.

Arabic does not have an indefinite article like English a/an.

So:

• مطفأة حريق can mean a fire extinguisher
• المطفأة would mean the extinguisher

Indefiniteness is usually shown simply by the absence of ال.

In fully vowelled formal Arabic, indefiniteness can also be shown by tanwīn, but in normal everyday writing short vowels are usually omitted, so you often recognize indefiniteness from context and from the lack of ال.

This is a great question because ة changes its pronunciation depending on context.

The word مطفأة by itself is usually pronounced roughly as:

• muṭfiʾa(h)

But in مطفأة حريق, it is followed by another noun in a construct phrase, so the ة is pronounced as t:

• muṭfiʾat ḥarīq

So the ending is not silent here. That happens often in iḍāfa constructions.

The أ in مطفأة represents a hamza, a glottal stop.

So the word is not pronounced smoothly like one uninterrupted string. There is a little break in it, roughly like:

• muṭ-fi-ʾa

In careful pronunciation, the hamza is clearly heard.

Learners often find hamza tricky, but it is important because it is a real consonant in Arabic, not just a spelling mark.

Yes. You could say:

معدات السلامة تشمل مطفأة حريق.

This is also correct and means the same thing.

The difference is mainly one of style and emphasis:

• تشمل معدات السلامة مطفأة حريق = more typically verbal in style
• معدات السلامة تشمل مطفأة حريق = starts with the topic/subject

Both are natural in MSA, though the verb-first version is very standard.

Because Arabic makes an important distinction between:

• human plurals
• non-human plurals

With non-human plurals, Arabic very often uses feminine singular agreement.

Since معدات refers to things, not people, the verb appears in the feminine singular:

• تشمل

Compare this general idea:

• الطلاب يدرسون = the students study
  human plural → plural agreement
• الكتب جديدة = the books are new
  non-human plural → feminine singular adjective

This rule is one of the most important patterns in Arabic grammar.

A very effective way to learn from this sentence is to memorize these chunks:

• تشمل = includes / comprises
• معدات السلامة = safety equipment
• مطفأة حريق = fire extinguisher

Also memorize the sentence pattern:

• تشمل [subject] [object]
• [something] includes [something]

And the two noun phrases as models of iḍāfa:

• معدات السلامة
• مطفأة حريق

These are highly reusable patterns in Modern Standard Arabic.