الملعقة الخشبية في وعاء الخلط.

In Modern Standard Arabic, the verb to be is usually not stated in the present tense.

So:

• الملعقة الخشبية في وعاء الخلط
  naturally means
• The wooden spoon is in the mixing bowl

This is a normal nominal sentence in Arabic:

• الملعقة الخشبية = the subject/topic
• في وعاء الخلط = the predicate/comment

If you wanted was or will be, Arabic would normally use an actual verb.

Because in Arabic, adjectives usually come after the noun they describe.

So:

• الملعقة الخشبية = the wooden spoon

not the other way around.

This is the regular pattern in Arabic:

• noun first
• adjective second

For an English speaker, this often feels reversed at first.

Because the adjective must agree with the noun in definiteness.

Here, الملعقة means the spoon, which is definite, so the adjective must also be definite:

• الملعقة الخشبية = the wooden spoon

If the noun were indefinite, the adjective would also be indefinite:

• ملعقة خشبية = a wooden spoon

This matching of noun + adjective is very important in Arabic.

Because ملعقة is a feminine noun, and the adjective has to agree with it in gender.

So:

• ملعقة = feminine
• خشبية = feminine form of wooden

The masculine form would be خشبي.

Arabic adjectives agree with the nouns they describe in:

• gender
• number
• definiteness
• case

So the feminine ending here is not optional; it is required.

It is an iḍāfa construction, often called a genitive construction.

That means two nouns are linked together:

• وعاء = container / bowl
• الخلط = the mixing

So وعاء الخلط literally means something like:

• the bowl of mixing
• or more naturally, the mixing bowl

Arabic often uses this noun+noun structure where English uses a compound noun.

Because in an iḍāfa construction, the first noun usually does not take الـ.

So Arabic says:

• وعاء الخلط

not:

• الوعاء الخلط

The definiteness of the whole phrase is determined by the second noun. Since الخلط is definite, the whole phrase becomes definite:

• وعاء الخلط = the mixing bowl

This is a very common Arabic pattern.

In fully vocalized MSA, you could write it as:

• المِلْعَقَةُ الخَشَبِيَّةُ في وِعاءِ الخَلْطِ

Why these endings?

• الملعقةُ: nominative, because it is the subject/topic
• الخشبيةُ: matches الملعقة
• وعاءِ: genitive, because it comes after في
• الخلطِ: also genitive, because it is the second part of an iḍāfa

In normal speech and in most unvocalized writing, these final short vowels are usually not shown.

Yes, especially for English speakers.

A rough pronunciation is:

• al-milʿaqatu al-khashabiyyatu fī wiʿāʾi al-khalṭi

A few tricky sounds:

• ع in ملعقة and وعاء has no exact English equivalent. It is a deep throat sound.
• خ in الخشبية and الخلط is like the ch in Scottish loch or German Bach.
• ء at the end of وعاء is a glottal stop, like the break in uh-oh.

These sounds usually take practice, especially ع.