العيادة مثل المستشفى.

Because this is a nominal sentence in the present tense. In Modern Standard Arabic, the verb to be is usually not written or spoken in simple present-tense sentences.

So:

• العيادة مثل المستشفى = The clinic is like the hospital

But in the past or future, Arabic would use a form of كان:

• كانت العيادة مثل المستشفى = The clinic was like the hospital
• ستكون العيادة مثل المستشفى = The clinic will be like the hospital

A careful MSA pronunciation is:

al-ʿiyādatu mithlu al-mustashfā

In pause, many speakers would say it more simply as:

al-ʿiyāda mithl al-mustashfā

A few pronunciation notes:

• ع in العيادة is the sound ʿayn, a throat sound with no exact English equivalent.
• يا in عيادة gives a long yā / īyā sequence: ʿiyā...
• مثل is pronounced mithl or mithlu in full reading.
• المستشفى ends in ى, which is pronounced like a long ā, so mustashfā, not mustashfay.

Here مثل means like or similar to.

So العيادة مثل المستشفى means that the clinic is like the hospital, not that it is the hospital.

A useful thing to remember: مثل can also mean example in other contexts, but here it clearly means like/similar to.

In this sentence, مثل functions as the predicate of the sentence, and it is followed by the thing being compared.

The structure is:

• العيادة = the topic / subject (mubtadaʾ)
• مثل المستشفى = the predicate (khabar)

More specifically, مثل is treated like a noun in a construct phrase:

• مثلُ المستشفى

That literally works like the likeness of the hospital, which in natural English becomes like the hospital.

So even though learners often translate مثل as if it were a preposition, its grammar is a little more noun-like.

Because مثل needs something after it to show what something is like.

So:

• مثل المستشفى = like the hospital

The second noun tells you the comparison target.

This is very normal in Arabic. You can think of it as:

• X مثل Y = X is like Y

Both العيادة and المستشفى have الـ, the definite article the.

So literally this is:

• the clinic
• the hospital

In Arabic, this can be used:

1. for a specific clinic and hospital, or
2. in some contexts, for a general class statement

Textbook sentences sometimes use the definite article more broadly than English would.

So depending on context, this might feel like:

• The clinic is like the hospital
• or more generally, A clinic is like a hospital

But grammatically, both nouns here are definite.

Yes. العيادة is a feminine noun.

You can often spot that because it ends in ة (taa marbuuTa).

In this sentence, that does not change anything obvious, because there is no adjective or past-tense verb agreeing with it. But in other sentences, feminine agreement would show up:

• العيادة كبيرة = The clinic is big
• العيادة مفتوحة = The clinic is open

So it is useful to remember that عيادة is feminine.

With full case endings, the sentence is:

العِيادَةُ مِثْلُ المُسْتَشْفَى

Explanation:

• العِيادَةُ → nominative, because it is the subject/topic of the nominal sentence
• مِثْلُ → nominative, because it is the predicate
• المُسْتَشْفَى → genitive, because it is the second part of the construct after مثل

One subtle point: المستشفى ends in ى (alif maqṣūrah), so the case ending is not visibly written the way it would be on many other nouns. Grammarians still analyze it as genitive here.

The final ى is called alif maqṣūrah. It is pronounced like a long ā sound.

So:

• المستشفى = al-mustashfā

That final letter is not pronounced like y here.

This spelling is common in Arabic words that historically end in an ā sound but are written with ى instead of regular ا.

Yes. That is also correct.

• العيادة مثل المستشفى
• العيادة كالمستشفى

Both can mean The clinic is like the hospital.

The difference is mainly in form:

• مثل is a separate word
• كَـ is a prefix attached to the following word

So:

• كالمستشفى = like the hospital

For many learners, مثل feels easier to recognize at first, while كَـ is shorter and very common.

No. It means they are similar, not identical.

That is exactly what مثل shows.

So:

• العيادة مثل المستشفى = The clinic is like the hospital
• not The clinic is the hospital

If Arabic wanted to say they were actually the same thing, it would use a different structure, without مثل.