المقهى الذي على يسار الجسر قريب من الفندق.

الذي is the relative pronoun that / which / who.

In this sentence, it refers back to المقهى and introduces the description of that café:

• المقهى = the café
• الذي على يسار الجسر = that is on the left of the bridge

Arabic chooses the form of the relative pronoun based on the noun it refers to. Since المقهى is singular, masculine, and definite, the correct form is الذي.

For comparison:

• masculine singular: الذي
• feminine singular: التي
• masculine plural: الذين
• feminine plural: اللاتي / اللواتي

Because قريب is describing المقهى, and المقهى is grammatically masculine singular.

So the adjective must match it:

• مقهى قريب = a near café / a café that is near
• not مقهى قريبة

Even though a café is not biologically male, Arabic nouns still have grammatical gender, and مقهى is treated as masculine.

In present-tense Arabic, the verb to be is usually not written or spoken in simple statements like this.

So Arabic says:

• المقهى ... قريب
  literally: the café ... near

but the meaning is:

• The café ... is near

The same thing happens inside the relative clause:

• الذي على يسار الجسر
• literally: that on the left of the bridge
• naturally: that is on the left of the bridge

So Arabic often leaves out is / am / are in the present tense.

It breaks down like this:

• المقهى = the café
• الذي على يسار الجسر = that is on the left of the bridge
• قريب من الفندق = is near the hotel

So the main noun is المقهى, then it is modified by a relative clause, and then the sentence gives information about it.

A useful way to see it is:

• [The café [that is on the left of the bridge]] [is near the hotel].

This is a common Arabic way to say on the left of or to the left of something.

Piece by piece:

• على = on / at
• يسار = left side
• الجسر = the bridge

So:

• على يسار الجسر
• literally: on the left side of the bridge

This is very natural Arabic. Another common version is:

• إلى يسار الجسر = to the left of the bridge

Both are used.

Because this is an iḍāfa construction, often called a possessive or noun-link construction.

In يسار الجسر:

• يسار = left side
• الجسر = the bridge

Together, they mean:

• the left side of the bridge

In an iḍāfa, the first noun usually does not take الـ. The whole phrase becomes definite because the second noun is definite.

So:

• يسار الجسر = the left side of the bridge
• not اليسار الجسر

This same pattern is very common in Arabic:

• باب البيت = the door of the house
• اسم الطالب = the name of the student

Because قريب commonly goes with من when you say what something is near to.

So:

• قريب من الفندق = near the hotel

This is just the normal pattern:

• قريب من = near
• بعيد من / عن = far from

So when learning قريب, it helps to learn it as a chunk:

• قريب من

Because the sentence is talking about specific, definite things:

• المقهى = the café
• الجسر = the bridge
• الفندق = the hotel

Also, الذي normally follows a definite noun. That is why المقهى الذي... is perfectly natural.

A good rule of thumb is:

• definite noun + الذي = the noun that...
• indefinite noun often does not use الذي in the same way

So المقهى الذي... means the café that...

Because الذي directly refers back to المقهى.

The sequence is:

• المقهى الذي...

That automatically tells you:

• the café that...

So the phrase على يسار الجسر is part of the description of the café, not of الفندق.

Then the main statement comes after that:

• قريب من الفندق = is near the hotel

Yes, but the structure and feel would change.

If you say:

• المقهى على يسار الجسر قريب من الفندق

this can be understood as:

• The café is on the left of the bridge and is near the hotel

That is slightly different from:

• المقهى الذي على يسار الجسر قريب من الفندق
• The café that is on the left of the bridge is near the hotel

With الذي, the phrase على يسار الجسر clearly becomes a description of which café you mean.

In careful full case-marked Arabic, it would be:

• المقهى الذي على يسارِ الجسرِ قريبٌ من الفندقِ

A few notes:

• قريبٌ is nominative because it is the predicate of the sentence.
• الجسرِ is genitive because it is the second noun in the iḍāfa يسارِ الجسرِ.
• الفندقِ is genitive because it comes after من.
• المقهى is also nominative as the subject, but its ending is not visibly written here because it ends in ى.

In normal spoken reading, many learners will hear or say it without the full endings.

المقهى is pronounced al-maqhā.

The final ى is called alif maqṣūra. In this word, it represents a long ā sound, not a y sound.

So it sounds like:

• maqhā
• not maqhay

This is a useful spelling pattern to recognize, because many words ending in ى are pronounced with final ā.

It is an adjective in form, but here it functions as the predicate of the sentence.

So:

• المقهى ... قريب
• literally: the café ... near
• naturally: the café ... is near

Arabic often uses adjectives this way in nominal sentences. The adjective agrees with the noun it describes:

• الفندق قريب
• المدرسة قريبة
• البيوت قريبة

So in this sentence, قريب is the word giving the main information about المقهى.

Yes. The exact English word depends on context.

Arabic الذي is more flexible than any one English word. It can correspond to:

• who for people
• which for things
• that for either, depending on style

In this sentence, since المقهى is a thing, English would usually say:

• that
• or which

So الذي here means something like that / which.