ما اسم هذا الشارع؟

A word-by-word breakdown is:

• ما = what
• اسم = name
• هذا = this
• الشارع = the street

A very literal gloss is:

• What [is] the name of this street?

So the core noun phrase is اسم هذا الشارع = the name of this street.

Because in Arabic, the verb to be is usually not expressed in the present tense in simple sentences like this.

So Arabic says:

• ما اسم هذا الشارع؟
• literally: What name of this street?

But the meaning is naturally:

• What is the name of this street?

If you were talking about the past or future, Arabic would use a verb such as كان or another form when needed.

In this kind of question, ما is the normal choice.

Arabic often uses:

• ما اسم...؟ = What is the name of ...?
• ما معنى...؟ = What is the meaning of ...?

By contrast, ماذا is especially common before verbs, for example:

• ماذا تريد؟ = What do you want?

So here ما اسم هذا الشارع؟ is the natural MSA wording.

Because شارع is a masculine singular noun, and هذا is the masculine singular demonstrative meaning this.

So:

• هذا الشارع = this street

If the noun were feminine singular, you would use هذه instead:

• هذه المدرسة = this school

That is a very common question. In MSA, after a demonstrative like هذا, the following noun is normally definite.

So Arabic says:

• هذا الشارع = this street

not an indefinite form.

The الـ does not make it mean this the street in English. It is just how standard Arabic builds this kind of phrase.

A useful pattern is:

• هذا الكتاب = this book
• هذا البيت = this house
• هذا الشارع = this street

Because اسم هذا الشارع is an iḍāfa construction, often explained as a noun + of + noun structure.

So:

• اسم هذا الشارع = the name of this street

In an iḍāfa:

• the first noun usually does not take الـ
• the first noun also does not take tanwīn
• the whole phrase becomes definite if the second part is definite

So اسم is bare here, not الاسم.

That is why:

• اسم هذا الشارع is correct for the name of this street

Because ش is a sun letter. With sun letters, the l of الـ is not pronounced; instead, the next consonant is doubled.

So:

• الشارع is pronounced ash-shāriʿ
• not al-shāriʿ

A careful pronunciation of the whole sentence is approximately:

• mā ismu hādhā ash-shāriʿ?

You may also hear the first part run together more smoothly in connected speech.

• هذا is pronounced roughly hādhā
• the ذ sounds like th in this
• the final letter in الشارع is ع, which is a sound English does not have

So:

• هذا ≈ haa-thaa
• شارع ≈ shaa-riʿ

For ع, beginners often start with a light approximation and improve it by listening to native speakers. It is a throat sound, not a normal English vowel or consonant.

Because اسم begins with hamzat al-waṣl.

That means:

• at the beginning of speech, you pronounce a helping vowel: ism
• after a word before it, that helping vowel can drop in connected speech

So on its own, you say:

• اسم = ism

But in a phrase like:

• ما اسم هذا الشارع؟

the pronunciation may flow more like:

• mā-smu hādhā ash-shāriʿ

That is why the spelling is اسم, not إسم in standard Arabic orthography.

With full grammatical vowels, the sentence is:

• ما اسمُ هذا الشارعِ؟

The main points are:

• اسمُ is nominative
• الشارعِ is genitive as part of the phrase after اسم

In normal everyday writing, these endings are usually not written, so you normally see:

• ما اسم هذا الشارع؟

without vowel marks.

Yes. ما هو اسم هذا الشارع؟ is understandable and grammatical.

But:

• ما اسم هذا الشارع؟

is shorter and very natural in MSA.

The extra هو is often unnecessary in simple present-tense identity questions, so learners should be comfortable with the shorter version.

In standard MSA, ما اسم هذا الشارع؟ is the most normal order.

A version like:

• ما اسم الشارع هذا؟

may sound colloquial, stylistically marked, or less standard depending on context. For a learner of Modern Standard Arabic, the safest pattern to use is:

• ما اسم هذا الشارع؟

That is the form to remember and produce.