Breakdown of بدأ التلفاز يتطور في الثلاثينيات.
الal
the
فيfî
in / about, regarding
تلفازtilfâz
television
بدأbada'a
to begin
Questions & Answers about بدأ التلفاز يتطور في الثلاثينيات.
How exactly do we build the word الثلاثينيات for "the thirties"?
You start with the cardinal number for the ten, using its oblique (genitive/accusative) form ending in ـين (-in). So, thirty is ثلاثين. Then, you add the Nisba suffix ـي (-iyy) and attach the feminine sound plural ending ـات (-at). This gives you ثلاثينيات (thalathiniyyat), meaning the years related to thirty. Finally, add the definite article الـ (al-) to get "the thirties."
Does the spelling of الثلاثينيات change to use ـون (-un) if it is the subject of a sentence?
No, the spelling stays exactly the same. Decade names are always formed using the ـين (-in) stem of the number, never the ـون (-un) stem, regardless of their grammatical case. If it were the subject, you would write الثلاثينيات but simply pronounce it with a final "u" sound (damma) instead of the "i" sound (kasra) it has here after the preposition في.
Why is there no أن (an) between the verbs بدأ (began) and يتطور (to develop)?
بدأ is one of the "verbs of beginning." In Arabic grammar, when these verbs are followed by another verb to indicate you "began doing an action," the second verb must be in the present/imperfect tense, and you cannot use the particle أن (to) before it. Using أن here would actually be grammatically incorrect.
Why is television written here as التلفاز rather than the common loanword التليفزيون?