في هذا المطعم الدجاج لذيذ، لكنه أغلى من السمك.

في هذا المطعم means in this restaurant.

Arabic often puts a place phrase like this at the beginning to set the scene first. So the sentence is structured a bit like:

• In this restaurant, the chicken is delicious, but it is more expensive than the fish.

This fronting is very natural in Arabic. You could also sometimes rearrange parts, but beginning with the location is common and clear.

Because هذا is a demonstrative (this), not a regular adjective.

In Arabic, demonstratives like هذا (this, masculine singular) come before the noun:

• هذا المطعم = this restaurant
• هذه السيارة = this car

By contrast, normal descriptive adjectives come after the noun:

• مطعم لذيذ = a delicious restaurant
• الطعام اللذيذ = the delicious food

So هذا المطعم follows the normal pattern for demonstratives.

In the present tense, Arabic usually does not use a word equivalent to is / are in simple sentences like this.

So:

• الدجاج لذيذ literally looks like the chicken delicious
• but it means the chicken is delicious

This is called a nominal sentence.

The same thing happens in many basic Arabic sentences:

• البيت كبير = The house is big
• الجو جميل = The weather is nice

If you want past or future, Arabic does use verbs:

• كان الدجاج لذيذًا = The chicken was delicious

Here الدجاج can be understood as the chicken in the sense of the chicken dish / chicken served here.

Arabic often uses the definite article الـ with food items when speaking generally about that item in a specific context, especially in a restaurant sentence like this.

So in this sentence:

• الدجاج لذيذ = the chicken is delicious
• السمك = the fish

In natural English, we often also say the chicken and the fish when talking about menu items.

Because الدجاج is being treated as a masculine singular noun here.

So the adjective agrees with it:

• الدجاج لذيذ
• not لذيذة

Even though English speakers may think of chicken as meat, animal, or a collective idea, in Arabic دجاج in this use is commonly treated grammatically as masculine singular.

لكنه means but it or but he.

It is made of:

• لكن = but / however
• ـه = him / it (attached pronoun)

So:

• لكنه أغلى = but it is more expensive

The pronoun ـه refers back to الدجاج.

Arabic often attaches pronouns directly to words instead of writing separate words the way English does.

Yes, but the structure would change a little.

You could say:

• في هذا المطعم الدجاج لذيذ، لكن السمك أرخص.
  • In this restaurant, the chicken is delicious, but the fish is cheaper.

In the original sentence, لكنه keeps the focus on the chicken:

• the chicken is delicious, but it is more expensive than the fish

So the attached pronoun helps continue talking about the same thing.

أغلى is the comparative form, meaning more expensive (and in some contexts most expensive).

It comes from the adjective غالٍ = expensive.

Arabic often forms comparatives on the pattern أفعل:

• كبير = big → أكبر = bigger / biggest
• صغير = small → أصغر = smaller / smallest
• غالي / غالٍ = expensive → أغلى = more expensive / most expensive

In this sentence, because it is followed by من (than), it is clearly comparative:

• أغلى من السمك = more expensive than the fish

Here من means than in a comparison.

So:

• أغلى من السمك = more expensive than the fish
• literally: more expensive than the fish

This is the normal way to make comparisons in Arabic:

• أكبر من = bigger than
• أصغر من = smaller than
• أفضل من = better than

So whenever you see a comparative like أغلى, أكبر, أحسن, followed by من, think -er than.

Yes. Arabic forms like أغلى can be comparative or superlative, depending on context.

• أغلى من السمك = more expensive than the fish → comparative
• هو أغلى طبق = it is the most expensive dish → superlative

So in this sentence, the presence of من makes it definitely comparative.

For the same reason there is no is in الدجاج لذيذ.

Arabic still omits the present-tense copula here:

• لكنه أغلى = but it [is] more expensive

So the full idea is there, even though Arabic does not need a separate word for is in the present tense.

Yes. In food contexts, both words often refer to the food item or dish, not just the animal in an abstract sense.

So in a restaurant sentence:

• الدجاج لذيذ = the chicken is delicious
• السمك = the fish

This is very natural in Arabic, just as it is in English when talking about menu items.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

fī hādhā al-maṭʿam ad-dajāj ladhīdh, lakinnahu aghlā mina as-samak

A few notes:

• في = fī
• هذا = hādhā
• المطعم = al-maṭʿam
• الدجاج is often pronounced with the l of الـ assimilated to the d, so it sounds like ad-dajāj
• لكنه is often pronounced lakinnahu
• أغلى = aghlā
• من السمك = mina as-samak

If you are studying pronunciation, one especially useful thing to notice is that الـ does not always sound the same before every letter.

Because د is a sun letter, while م is a moon letter.

With sun letters, the l sound of الـ is not pronounced separately; instead, the next consonant is doubled in pronunciation:

• الدجاج is pronounced roughly ad-dajāj

With moon letters, the l is pronounced normally:

• المطعم = al-maṭʿam
• السمك = as-samak? Actually س is also a sun letter, so here the l is also assimilated, giving as-samak

So in this sentence:

• المطعم → moon letter pronunciation
• الدجاج → sun letter pronunciation
• السمك → sun letter pronunciation

This affects pronunciation, not spelling.