Breakdown of بدأت أختي العمل في سن العشرين.
الal
the
فيfî
in / about, regarding
أختukht
sister
يi
my / me (after a preposition)
عملamal
work
بدأbada'a
to begin
عشرون'ishrûna
twenty
سنsinn
age (at the age of …)
Questions & Answers about بدأت أختي العمل في سن العشرين.
Why does the sentence use the noun العمل (the work) instead of a verb for 'working'?
In Arabic, after verbs like بدأت (started), you often use the verbal noun or masdar (here, العمل) to express the action, similar to the English '-ing' form. You could also use the verb by saying أن تعمل (to work), but the masdar is very common.
Literally, how does the phrase في سن العشرين translate to 'at the age of twenty'?
It literally translates to 'in the age of the twenty.' The words سن (age) and العشرين (twenty) form an Idafa (a possessive phrase). Notice that سن does not have 'al-' (the) because the first word in an Idafa never takes it.
Why is the number twenty written as العشرين here instead of العشرون?
Because it is the second part of the Idafa, it must be in the genitive case. For multiples of ten like twenty, the default ending -ون (-uun) changes to the genitive ending -ين (-iin).
Since the verb بدأت comes before the subject أختي, why does it still have the feminine ending?
In standard Arabic, even when the verb comes first, it must always match the gender of the subject. Since أختي (my sister) is feminine, the verb takes the feminine marker ت (taa) at the end.
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