هذا كتاب.

This is a book.

Breakdown of هذا كتاب.

• هذا: this
• كتاب: book

Questions & Answers about هذا كتاب.

What part of speech is هذا and what does it do in the sentence?

هذا is a demonstrative pronoun/determiner meaning this (masculine singular, for something near). In هذا كتاب it “points to” the noun that follows, so the sentence is essentially this (is) a book.

Why is there no word for is in هذا كتاب?

Arabic often makes present-tense “to be” sentences without an explicit verb. So هذا كتاب is a nominal sentence (a sentence made of nouns/pronouns), and the meaning this is a book is understood without saying is.

What is the grammatical structure of هذا كتاب?

A common analysis is:

• هذا = مبتدأ (topic/subject)
• كتاب = خبر (comment/predicate)

So it’s a basic subject + predicate nominal sentence.

Why is كتاب indefinite (no الـ)?

Because the sentence means this is a book, not this is the book. In Arabic, indefiniteness is usually shown by absence of الـ. If you wanted the book, you’d say هذا الكتاب.

Shouldn’t it be هذا كتابٌ with tanwīn at the end?

In fully vocalized Modern Standard Arabic, yes: كتابٌ (with ـٌ = tanwīn ḍamma) because the predicate is typically nominative and indefinite.
In most everyday writing, short vowels and tanwīn are omitted, so you usually see هذا كتاب.

How is it pronounced, and why doesn’t the spelling show the long vowel clearly?

It’s pronounced hādhā kitāb.
The word هذا is often written without showing the long ā explicitly; in fully vocalized text you may see a “dagger alif” over the هـ: هٰذا, which indicates the long ā sound.

Why is هذا used and not هذه?

هذا is for masculine singular nouns. كتاب is grammatically masculine, so you say هذا كتاب.
For a feminine singular noun you’d use هذه, e.g., هذه سيارة (this is a car).

Can I change the word order and say كتاب هذا?

Not as a normal equivalent of هذا كتاب. The usual order for this is a book is هذا + noun.
You can have other structures for emphasis or different meanings in more advanced usage, but كتاب هذا by itself is not the standard way to say it.

What happens to the ending of كتابٌ when you pause at the end of the sentence?

When stopping (pausing) in Arabic, the final short vowel/tanwīn is typically not pronounced.
So even if the fully vocalized form is كتابٌ, you would usually pronounce it at the end as kitāb (without the -un sound).

Is هذا always followed by a noun without الـ?

No. هذا can be followed by:

• an indefinite noun: هذا كتابٌ (this is a book)
• a definite noun: هذا الكتابُ (this is the book)
• and it can also stand alone if the context is clear: هذا (this one/this is it)