نعم، الموعد اليوم.

Because Arabic usually leaves out the present-tense verb to be in sentences like this.

So in MSA, a sentence such as الموعد اليوم literally looks like the appointment today, but it naturally means the appointment is today.

This kind of sentence is called a nominal sentence. In the present tense:

• الموعد = the subject
• اليوم = the predicate

If you wanted a past or future meaning, Arabic would use a verb:

• كان الموعد اليوم = the appointment was today
• سيكون الموعد اليوم = the appointment will be today

الموعد means something like the appointment, the scheduled time, or the date/time arranged for something.

Depending on context, موعد can refer to:

• a doctor’s appointment
• a meeting time
• an arranged date
• an official appointment time

The الـ at the beginning makes it definite, so الموعد is the appointment, not just an appointment.

In Arabic, اليوم is commonly used as a fixed expression meaning today.

So although the word by itself is historically the day, in normal usage it often functions as the adverb today.

This is very common in Arabic. You should usually learn اليوم as a standard word for today, not try to translate it word-for-word every time.

Here اليوم is the predicate of the sentence, and more specifically it functions as an adverb of time.

So the structure is:

• الموعد = topic / subject
• اليوم = tells when the appointment is

In full grammatical spelling with case endings, it would be:

نَعَمْ، الْمَوْعِدُ الْيَوْمَ

Notice:

• الْمَوْعِدُ ends in ـُ because it is nominative
• الْيَوْمَ ends in ـَ because it is functioning as a time adverb

Even though those endings are usually not written in normal Arabic text, they are part of the grammar.

الموعد اليوم is the most straightforward, neutral order for saying the appointment is today.

Arabic often starts a nominal sentence with the thing being talked about first:

• الموعد = what we are talking about
• اليوم = what we say about it

You can sometimes move parts of the sentence for emphasis, but الموعد اليوم is the simple, standard wording.

So for a learner, this is the safest pattern to remember.

This is an important difference.

• الموعد اليوم = a full sentence meaning the appointment is today
• موعد اليوم = a noun phrase meaning today’s appointment

Why?

Because موعد اليوم is an iḍāfa construction:

• موعد = appointment
• اليوم = of today

So it means the appointment of today or more naturally today’s appointment.

But الموعد اليوم is not an iḍāfa phrase. It is a sentence with:

• الموعد as the subject
• اليوم as the predicate

No. Here اليوم is not an adjective.

It is telling you when the appointment is, not describing the type of appointment.

If you wanted an adjective like daily, Arabic would use a different form, such as يومي:

• موعد يومي = a daily appointment

So in الموعد اليوم, اليوم means today, not daily and not day-related.

A careful MSA pronunciation would be:

• نعم = naʿam
• الموعد = al-mawʿid

A few pronunciation notes:

• In نعم, the middle sound ʿ is the Arabic letter ع
• In الموعد, aw sounds like the vowel in cow
• The ع in موعد is again the letter ع
• The الـ in الموعد is pronounced clearly as al- because م is a moon letter, not a sun letter

If the sound ع is hard for you, that is completely normal for English speakers.

With full vowel marks, it would be:

نَعَمْ، الْمَوْعِدُ الْيَوْمَ.

This shows the grammar more clearly:

• نَعَمْ = yes
• الْمَوْعِدُ = the appointment, with nominative ـُ
• الْيَوْمَ = today, with accusative ـَ as a time expression

In normal everyday writing, these short vowels are usually omitted, so you typically just see:

نعم، الموعد اليوم.

No, but it is a very standard and correct MSA choice.

In formal Modern Standard Arabic, common words for yes include:

• نعم
• أجل

نعم is very common and neutral.
أجل can sound a bit more formal or literary.

So in MSA, نعم، الموعد اليوم is perfectly natural.