Breakdown of أصبح المذياع مشهورا في العشرينيات.
الal
the
فيfî
in / about, regarding
أصبحasbaha
to become
مشهورmashhour
famous
مذياعmidhyâ'
radio
عشرينياتishriniyyât
twenties
Questions & Answers about أصبح المذياع مشهورا في العشرينيات.
How exactly is العشرينيات formed to mean "the twenties"?
To name a decade, we take the cardinal ten—in this case, عشرين (twenty)—and add the feminine Nisba ending plus the regular feminine plural ending, which together look like ـيات (-iyyaat). With the definite article, this gives us العشرينيات (the twenties).
Why does the decade use عشرين instead of عشرون as its base?
When forming decades, Modern Standard Arabic conventionally attaches the suffix to the oblique/genitive form of the number (ending in ـين) regardless of its grammatical role in the sentence. So you will always see العشرينيات and never العشرونيات. Here, it also takes a genitive kasra on the final letter because of the preposition في.
Why is مشهورا written with the accusative ending?
Because it is the predicate of أصبح (became). The verb أصبح is one of the sisters of كان, meaning it requires its subject (المذياع) to be nominative and its predicate (مشهورا) to be accusative.
What is the grammatical pattern for المذياع (the radio)?
It follows the مِفْعَال (mif'aal) pattern, which is frequently used to create nouns of instrument (tools or machines) from a root. It comes from the root ذ ي ع (related to broadcasting). You have likely seen this pattern in words like مفتاح (key).
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