الشجرة قرب البيت.

Because Arabic usually leaves out the present-tense verb to be.

So الشجرة قرب البيت literally looks like the tree near the house, but it means The tree is near the house.

This is very normal in Arabic. If you want past or future, then Arabic does use a form of to be, for example:

• كانت الشجرة قرب البيت = The tree was near the house
• ستكون الشجرة قرب البيت = The tree will be near the house

It is a complete sentence.

In Arabic grammar, this is a nominal sentence:

• الشجرة = the topic / subject-like part
• قرب البيت = the comment / predicate

So the sentence structure is basically:

• The tree
  • near the house

That is enough to make a full sentence in Arabic.

A simple learner-friendly pronunciation is:

• الشجرة = ash-shajarah
• البيت = al-bayt

If you read with full case endings in careful MSA, they would be:

• الشجرةُ = ash-shajaratu
• البيتِ = al-bayti

For قرب, learners often hear it as qurb in pause, while in fully inflected reading it is قربَ before البيت.

Because ش is a sun letter.

When ال comes before a sun letter, the l sound of al- is not pronounced. Instead, the following consonant is doubled.

So:

• الشجرة is pronounced ash-shajarah, not al-shajarah

But in البيت, the letter ب is a moon letter, so the l is pronounced:

• البيت = al-bayt

That letter is called tāʾ marbūṭa (ة).

It often marks feminine nouns, and شجرة is a feminine noun meaning tree.

Its pronunciation depends on context:

• In pause, it is usually pronounced -ah: shajarah
• With full endings or in certain grammatical connections, it can sound like -t: shajaratu

So learners often first hear it as ash-shajarah.

It means near, but grammatically it is often treated as an adverbial noun of place (ظرف مكان) rather than a basic preposition like في (in) or على (on).

So قرب البيت literally has the sense of the vicinity of the house, and naturally means near the house.

For a beginner, the easiest practical understanding is:

• قرب = near

Because قرب needs something after it to say near what.

So:

• قرب البيت = near the house

This whole chunk works together as one unit.

You can think of it as similar to English near the house, except Arabic builds it in a more noun-like way.

Because قرب البيت works like an iḍāfa construction.

In an iḍāfa:

• the first word is the head noun
• the second word is the possessed/related noun and takes the genitive case

So in fully marked MSA:

• البيتِ has kasra because it is mudāf ilayh (the second part of the iḍāfa)

That is why careful reading gives:

• الشجرةُ قربَ البيتِ

In fully vocalized, careful MSA, the sentence is:

• الشجرةُ قربَ البيتِ

Here is why:

• الشجرةُ: nominative, because it is the topic / مبتدأ
• قربَ: accusative, because it is an adverbial expression of place
• البيتِ: genitive, because it is the second part of an iḍāfa after قرب

In normal everyday writing, these short vowels are usually not written.

Because the sentence means the tree and the house.

So:

• الشجرة = the tree
• البيت = the house

If you remove ال, the noun becomes indefinite:

• شجرة = a tree
• بيت = a house

For example:

• شجرة قرب البيت = a tree near the house
• الشجرة قرب بيت = the tree is near a house

Yes, absolutely. That is a very common alternative.

• الشجرة قرب البيت
• الشجرة قريبة من البيت

Both can mean The tree is near the house.

The difference is mainly structure:

• قرب البيت uses قرب as a place expression
• قريبة من البيت uses قريبة (near, feminine singular) as an adjective/predicate, followed by من

Many learners find قريبة من easier at first because it looks more like near to something.

Because الشجرة is a feminine noun, and adjectives/predicate adjectives must agree with it.

So:

• الشجرة is feminine
• therefore near becomes قريبة, not قريب

Compare:

• البيت قريب = The house is near
• الشجرة قريبة = The tree is near

The normal, neutral order is:

• الشجرة قرب البيت

That is the best order for a learner to use.

Arabic can sometimes move elements around for emphasis or style, but the basic beginner pattern is:

• topic first
• then the predicate

So it is best to learn this sentence exactly as written.

No. Arabic has several common ways to express this idea, including:

• قرب البيت
• بالقرب من البيت
• قريبة من البيت / قريب من البيت

All of these can express near the house, but they are built differently.

For a beginner:

• قرب البيت is short and direct
• قريبة من البيت is also very common and often easier to analyze
• بالقرب من البيت is another standard expression meaning near the house / in the vicinity of the house