Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): Mi hermana está harta de escuchar esa canción en la televisión. - My sister is fed up with listening to that song on TV.

Está harta = She is fed up right now / at this point (a state that can change).
Es harta is incorrect in this sense. You basically don’t say ser harto/harta to mean “to be fed up.”

Also, estar harto de is a fixed expression meaning “to be fed up with / sick of” something.

What does estar harto de really mean? Is it the same as “tired of”?

Estar harto/harta de means:

To be fed up with
To be sick (and tired) of
To have had enough of

It’s usually stronger than just “tired”:

Estoy cansado de esa canción – I’m tired of that song.
Estoy harto de esa canción – I’m fed up with that song (it’s really annoying me now).

So in your sentence, Mi hermana está harta de escuchar esa canción... suggests a strong irritation, not just mild boredom.

Why is it harta (feminine) and not harto?

Adjectives in Spanish must agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.

The subject is mi hermana (my sister) → feminine singular.
So the adjective must also be feminine singular: harta.

Compare:

Mi hermano está harto. – My brother is fed up.
Mis hermanas están hartas. – My (female) sisters are fed up.
Mis hermanos están hartos. – My brothers / my siblings (mixed group) are fed up.

Why do we use de before escuchar: está harta de escuchar?

Because the expression is estar harto/harta de + noun / infinitive.

Estar harto de algo – to be fed up with something.
- Estoy harto de esa canción. – I’m fed up with that song.
Estar harto de + infinitive – to be fed up with doing something.
- Estoy harto de escuchar esa canción. – I’m fed up with listening to that song.

The preposition de is required by this expression; you can’t omit it or replace it with another preposition.

Could we use oír instead of escuchar here?

Yes, you could say:

Mi hermana está harta de oír esa canción en la televisión.

But there’s a nuance:

escuchar = to listen (more active, paying attention)
oír = to hear (more passive, sound reaching your ears)

In real life, both are often used in similar complaints, but:

de escuchar can suggest actually listening to it again and again.
de oír can suggest she keeps hearing it whether she wants to or not.

In many everyday contexts, especially complaints like this, both verbs are natural.

Why is it esa canción and not esta canción or aquella canción?

Spanish has three basic demonstratives:

esta canción – this song (close to the speaker, or just mentioned)
esa canción – that song (a bit farther away, or not immediately present)
aquella canción – that song over there / that (more distant, often more “remote” in space or time)

Here, esa canción typically refers to:

A song that both speakers know about (maybe it keeps playing on TV), but it’s not “here” physically.
Something slightly “distanced,” often with a negative or annoyed tone: esa canción can sound like “that (annoying) song.”

You could say esa canción or esa misma canción in many complaint contexts.
Esta canción could appear if the song is playing right now and the speaker feels it as very “present.”

Why is there an accent mark in canción and televisión?

The accent shows where the stress (spoken emphasis) goes:

canción is written with -ión → stress goes on the last syllable: canCIÓN.
televisión → tele-vi-SIÓN.

Without the written accent, the default rules would stress them differently (on the second-to-last syllable), which would change the pronunciation:

Without accent: cancion → CAN-cion (incorrect)
Correct: canción → can-CIÓN

Same with televisión.

So the accent mark is necessary to signal the correct stress.

Can we say Mi hermana se hartó de escuchar esa canción… instead? What’s the difference?

Yes, and it changes the focus slightly:

Mi hermana está harta de escuchar esa canción…
Focus on her current state: she is fed up now.
Mi hermana se hartó de escuchar esa canción…
Uses the preterite (se hartó) → focuses on the moment she became fed up, like:
- My sister (finally) got fed up with listening to that song…

So:

está harta = present state, result we see now.
se hartó = the action/event of reaching that state.

Both are correct; you choose depending on whether you want to highlight the present state or the past moment of “having enough.”

Why is it en la televisión and not en la tele or por la televisión?

All of these can be correct, but they have slightly different flavors:

en la televisión – neutral, a bit more formal. It can mean:
- on TV (in general)
- or literally in the content broadcast on television.
en la tele – more colloquial; la tele is everyday speech in many regions.
por la televisión – often used with verbs like transmitir, pasar, salir:
- La pasan todos los días por la televisión. – They show it every day on TV.

In your sentence, en la televisión is perfectly natural and standard.
In informal speech in much of Latin America, en la tele is also very common:
Mi hermana está harta de escuchar esa canción en la tele.

Is harto / harta always used with estar? Can I say Soy harto?

To express “fed up,” you use estar, not ser:

✅ Estoy harto de esto. – I’m fed up with this.
❌ Soy harto de esto. – Incorrect for this meaning.

Ser harto/harta is not used in standard Spanish to mean “to be fed up.”
The feeling is a state, not a permanent characteristic, and the fixed expression is estar harto de.

You can, however, use ser in other related expressions:

Es harto difícil. (More literary / regional, not common everywhere.)
But that’s a different structure and meaning.

For emotions and temporary conditions like this, think estar.

How would this sentence change if we talk about multiple sisters or brothers?

You need to change the subject and the agreement of the adjective:

Multiple sisters (all female):
- Mis hermanas están hartas de escuchar esa canción en la televisión.
Multiple brothers or a mixed group:
- Mis hermanos están hartos de escuchar esa canción en la televisión.

Changes:

Mi hermana → Mis hermanas / Mis hermanos (subject number and sometimes gender)
está → están (verb agrees with plural subject)
harta → hartas / hartos (adjective agrees in gender and number)

Is harto / harta common in Latin America, or is it more from Spain?

Estar harto/harta (de) is understood and used across the Spanish-speaking world, including Latin America.

Some notes:

In many Latin American countries, people do say:
- Estoy harto de… / Estoy harta de…
It can sound a bit stronger than estar cansado de (“to be tired of”), so it feels like a clear complaint.

Regional variations:

In Spain and some regions (e.g., Chile), harto can also be used in other senses, like “a lot”:
- Hay harto trabajo. – There’s a lot of work.
  That use is not universal across Latin America.
But the “fed up” meaning is widespread and understood almost everywhere.

Could we leave out de escuchar and just say Mi hermana está harta de esa canción en la televisión?

Yes, that is also correct:

Mi hermana está harta de esa canción en la televisión.

Here, de esa canción is a noun phrase (the song itself), and en la televisión indicates where it appears.

Subtle difference:

harta de escuchar esa canción – emphasizes the action of having to listen to it.
harta de esa canción – emphasizes the song itself; she’s fed up with that song (especially because it’s on TV all the time).

Both are natural; including de escuchar focuses more on the repeated listening experience.