Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): El alumno estudia matemáticas en la escuela.

alumno often implies a person assigned to a teacher or enrolled in a specific course.
estudiante focuses on the act of studying and can sound more neutral or formal.
In many contexts they’re interchangeable, but alumno is very common in school settings.

Why does Spanish use the definite article el before alumno when English often omits “the”?

In Spanish, we generally use definite articles with singular, countable nouns—even when speaking in general terms.
English says “students study…,” but Spanish prefers El alumno estudia… to mean “The student studies… (in general).”
Omitting el would sound like a newspaper headline or be grammatically odd in regular prose.

Why is estudia in the simple present and not something like está estudiando (present progressive)?

Spanish uses the simple present to express habitual or regular actions—exactly what “studies” implies here.

El alumno estudia matemáticas = “The student studies math” (habit/routine).
El alumno está estudiando matemáticas would stress “right now,” as in “The student is studying math (at this moment).”

Why is matemáticas plural? Could it be singular (matemática)?

In Spanish, many academic subjects appear in the plural form (las ciencias, las humanidades, las matemáticas) because they’re seen as a collection of topics.
Saying la matemática is possible but usually refers to the discipline as a whole or to a type of math problem, not to the school subject in general.

Why does matemáticas have an accent on the “á”?

matemáticas is an esdrújula word (stress on the third-to-last syllable). The general rule is:

All esdrújula words carry a written accent.
Here the stress falls on má, so we write matemáticas.

Why is the preposition en used before la escuela? Could it be a la escuela?

en indicates location: “at” or “in” the school.
va a la escuela uses a to express motion (“go to school”).
Since our sentence states where the studying happens, we use en la escuela = “at school.”

Could we say El estudiante estudia matemáticas en el colegio instead? What’s the difference between escuela and colegio in Latin America?

Yes, you could substitute colegio if it fits the local context.

escuela is a general term for any school (primary, secondary) or even a school as an institution.
colegio often refers specifically to private or secondary schools, depending on the country.
Usage varies by region, but both would be understood.

What are the subject, verb, direct object, and prepositional phrase in this sentence?

Subject: El alumno (“The student”)
Verb: estudia (“studies”)
Direct Object: matemáticas (“math”)
Prepositional Phrase: en la escuela (“at school”), indicating location

How would you change the sentence if the student is female?

Just adjust the noun and article to feminine. The verb and other words stay the same:
La alumna estudia matemáticas en la escuela.

alumno → alumna
el → la
estudia, matemáticas, en la escuela remain unchanged.