يتكلم الزبون مع الخياط.

Because both word orders are possible in Modern Standard Arabic.

• يتكلم الزبون مع الخياط. = Verb–Subject–Prepositional phrase
• الزبون يتكلم مع الخياط. = Subject–Verb–Prepositional phrase

The first order is very common in MSA, especially in more formal writing. Starting with the verb often feels a bit more neutral or narrative. Starting with the subject can give slightly more emphasis to the customer.

So this sentence is a normal verbal sentence.

يتكلم is in the imperfect tense, which usually covers:

• he speaks
• he is speaking
• he does speak

So Arabic does not force you to choose between simple present and present progressive the way English often does. The exact meaning depends on context.

The form يتكلم tells you that it is:

• 3rd person
• masculine
• singular

The prefix يـ often marks he in the imperfect tense.

So:

• يتكلم = he speaks / he is speaking
• If the subject were feminine singular, you would usually get تتكلم = she speaks / she is speaking

Since الزبون is masculine singular, يتكلم matches it.

يتكلم comes from the root ك ل م, which is connected with speech and الكلام speech.

The dictionary form is تكلّم = to speak / to talk.
From that, يتكلم means he speaks / he is speaking.

So you can think of it as a verb built from the idea of speech.

Arabic commonly says يتكلم مع... meaning literally he speaks with...

So:

• يتكلم مع الخياط = he talks with the tailor

In natural English, we may translate this as:

• The customer talks to the tailor
• The customer is speaking with the tailor

So the Arabic preposition is مع = with, even when English often prefers to.

الـ is the Arabic definite article, meaning the.

So:

• الزبون = the customer
• الخياط = the tailor

Arabic uses الـ on each definite noun individually. Unlike English, you cannot put the once and expect it to cover both words.

If they were indefinite, they would be:

• زبون = a customer
• خياط = a tailor

Because ز is a sun letter.

When الـ comes before a sun letter, the l sound of al- is not pronounced, and the next consonant is doubled in pronunciation.

So:

• الزبون is written with الـ
• but pronounced az-zabūn

This is a pronunciation rule only; the spelling stays the same.

Because خ is a moon letter, not a sun letter.

With moon letters, the l in الـ is pronounced normally.

So:

• الخياط = al-khayyāṭ

Compare:

• الزبون → az-zabūn because ز is a sun letter
• الخياط → al-khayyāṭ because خ is a moon letter

In fully vocalized MSA, the sentence would be:

يَتَكَلَّمُ الزَّبُونُ مَعَ الخَيَّاطِ

The endings are:

• يتكلمُ → verb ending -u
• الزبونُ → nominative, because it is the subject
• الخياطِ → genitive, because it comes after the preposition مع

In normal Arabic writing, these short vowel endings are usually omitted, so you often just see:

يتكلم الزبون مع الخياط

Because it follows the preposition مع.

In Arabic, a noun after a preposition is normally in the genitive case.

So:

• معَ الخياطِ

Even though the short vowel is usually not written in everyday text, grammatically it is الخياطِ with a genitive ending.

Yes. That is also correct.

Compare:

• يتكلم الزبون مع الخياط = a common formal verbal sentence
• الزبون يتكلم مع الخياط = also correct, with the subject placed first

The difference is mostly about style, rhythm, and emphasis, not basic meaning.

A careful pronunciation is roughly:

al-khay-yāṭ

A few notes:

• خ is like a throaty kh sound
• يّ is doubled here, so hold the y slightly
• ط is an emphatic t

So the word is not al-khayat with a simple single y; it is more like al-khayyāṭ.

No. زبون is a common word for customer. Another common word is عميل.

Very roughly:

• زبون often sounds like customer
• عميل can mean client or customer, depending on context

In this sentence, الزبون is completely natural.