مكتب الاستقبال قرب الباب.

Yes. In Arabic, especially in the present tense, a sentence can be complete without an explicit verb to be.

So مكتب الاستقبال قرب الباب literally looks like:

• مكتب الاستقبال = the reception desk
• قرب الباب = near the door

But the natural English meaning is The reception desk is near the door.

This is called a nominal sentence in Arabic.

Because مكتب الاستقبال is an iḍāfa construction, often called a possessive or of-phrase.

It works like this:

• مكتب = desk / office
• الاستقبال = the reception

Together:

• مكتب الاستقبال = the desk of the reception, meaning the reception desk

In an iḍāfa:

• the first noun usually does not take ال
• the second noun can take ال
• the whole phrase can still be definite

So even though مكتب has no ال, مكتب الاستقبال as a whole is definite: the reception desk.

It is an iḍāfa construction.

In this structure:

1. the first noun is the thing being described
2. the second noun specifies it

So:

• مكتب = desk / office
• الاستقبال = reception

Together:

• مكتب الاستقبال = reception desk / front desk

A few important grammar points about iḍāfa:

• the first noun does not take ال
• the first noun does not take tanwīn
• the second noun is grammatically in the genitive case

So in full vocalization, it would be مكتبُ الاستقبالِ.

قرب here means near. It often behaves like an adverbial noun or a word functioning very much like a preposition.

So:

• قرب الباب = near the door

The noun after it, الباب, is in the genitive case.

You can think of قرب as one common way to express location. It is similar in meaning to:

• بجانب الباب = beside the door
• بالقرب من الباب = near the door
• قريب من الباب = close to the door

So yes, even if it is not always explained exactly like a simple preposition, for a learner it is fine to understand قرب here as meaning near.

Both are possible, but they are built differently.

• قرب الباب = near the door
• قريب من الباب = close to the door

The difference is:

• قرب is used directly before the noun
• قريب is an adjective, so it normally comes with من

So you can say:

• مكتب الاستقبال قرب الباب
• مكتب الاستقبال قريب من الباب

Both are natural, but the sentence you were given uses the shorter structure.

Because it refers to the door, not just a door.

So:

• باب = a door / door
• الباب = the door

In this sentence, the meaning is specific: near the door.

Also, after قرب, the noun is in the genitive case, so with full vowels it would be البابِ.

In normal Arabic writing, short vowels and case endings are usually not written.

If fully vocalized, the sentence would be:

مَكْتَبُ الاستقبالِ قُرْبَ البابِ

Grammatically:

• مكتبُ = subject of the sentence
• الاستقبالِ = second part of the iḍāfa, so genitive
• قربَ = adverbial expression of place
• البابِ = genitive after قرب

In everyday texts, these endings are usually omitted, so learners have to infer them from grammar and context.

A careful classroom pronunciation is roughly:

maktabu l-istiqbāli qurba l-bābi

If you pause naturally and do not pronounce the case endings, it may sound more like:

maktab al-istiqbāl qurb al-bāb

A few useful pronunciation notes:

• مكتب = maktab
• الاستقبال = al-istiqbāl
• قرب = qurb
• الباب = al-bāb

Also, the ال in الاستقبال and الباب is pronounced clearly because ا and ب are moon letters, not sun letters.

Because that is normal in Arabic writing.

Most everyday Arabic texts leave out:

• short vowels
• case endings
• many pronunciation clues

So learners often see:

مكتب الاستقبال قرب الباب

instead of the fully vocalized:

مَكْتَبُ الاستقبالِ قُرْبَ البابِ

This is one reason Arabic can feel hard at first: you often need grammar and context to know exactly how to read a sentence.

Yes, Arabic word order is somewhat flexible.

The given sentence is the most neutral way to say it:

• مكتب الاستقبال قرب الباب = The reception desk is near the door

You could also move the location first for emphasis:

• قرب الباب مكتب الاستقبال

That can sound more like:

• Near the door is the reception desk
• The reception desk is by the door

But for learners, the original order is the best basic pattern to remember.

By itself, مكتب can mean desk or office, depending on context.

For example:

• مكتب المدير could mean the manager’s office or the manager’s desk, depending on the situation.

But in the expression مكتب الاستقبال, the usual meaning is:

• reception desk
• sometimes front desk

So context tells you which English word fits best.