Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): Ella se siente culpable cuando ignora sus propias necesidades por ayudar a todos. - She feels guilty when she ignores her own needs in order to help everyone.

sentir (non‑reflexive): to feel (physically), to sense, to regret
- Siento frío. – I feel cold.
- Siento mucho lo que pasó. – I’m very sorry about what happened.
sentirse (reflexive: se siente, me siento, etc.): to feel a certain way, to feel + adjective/adverb
- Ella se siente feliz. – She feels happy.
- Yo me siento cansado. – I feel tired.

In Ella se siente culpable, we’re describing how she feels (her emotional state), so Spanish uses the reflexive form sentirse + adjective.
Siente culpable without se is ungrammatical in this meaning. You’d have to say siente culpa (she feels guilt) if you wanted to avoid the reflexive, but that sounds less natural than se siente culpable.

Is the subject pronoun Ella necessary here, or could you just say Se siente culpable…?

You could absolutely say:

Se siente culpable cuando ignora sus propias necesidades por ayudar a todos.

Spanish normally omits subject pronouns when the subject is clear from the verb ending. Se siente already shows it’s he/she/you (formal).

Why use Ella then?

To specify that the subject is “she,” especially if context is unclear.
To contrast:
Ella se siente culpable, pero ellos no. – She feels guilty, but they don’t.
For emphasis: drawing attention to her.

Grammatically, it’s optional; it’s a choice of emphasis and clarity, not correctness.

What is the function of se in se siente? Is it an object pronoun?

Here se is the reflexive pronoun used with the verb sentirse.

sentir = non‑reflexive verb
sentirse = reflexive verb (used for emotions/states)

The full set is:

yo me siento
tú te sientes
él/ella/usted se siente
nosotros nos sentimos
ustedes/ellos/ellas se sienten

It doesn’t mean “him/her/it” here; it’s part of the verb pattern that signals “to feel (a certain way)”.

Why is it sus propias necesidades and not sus necesidad propias or su propia necesidad?

A few things are happening:

Plural vs. singular
- sus necesidades = her needs (more than one need)
- su necesidad = her need (one need)
In this sentence, the idea is that she ignores all of her needs in general, so plural necesidades is more natural.
Position of propias
- sus propias necesidades is the normal word order: possessive + propia(s) + noun.
- sus necesidades propias is grammatically possible but much less idiomatic here and sounds more technical/descriptive than emotional.
Meaning of propias
- sus necesidades = her needs
- sus propias necesidades = her *own needs* (emphasizes contrast with others’ needs)

So sus propias necesidades is the most natural way to say “her own needs” in this emotional context.

Why is it ignora sus propias necesidades and not ignora a sus propias necesidades?

In Spanish, the “personal a” (the a before a direct object) is normally used for:

specific people or pets:
Ve a María. – He sees María.
Quiero a mi perro. – I love my dog.

Necesidades (needs) are things, not people, so you do not use the personal a:

ignora sus propias necesidades – correct
ignora a sus propias necesidades – incorrect

However, you do see a later in ayudar a todos because todos refers to people.

Why do we say por ayudar a todos and not para ayudar a todos?

Por and para can both appear before infinitives, but they mean different things:

por + infinitive often expresses cause/reason:
Se siente triste por haber perdido el trabajo. – She feels sad because of having lost her job.
para + infinitive usually expresses purpose/goal:
Trabajo para ahorrar dinero. – I work (in order) to save money.

In se siente culpable cuando ignora sus propias necesidades por ayudar a todos:

por ayudar a todos = because of helping everyone / for the sake of helping everyone
→ It explains what leads to her ignoring her own needs.

If you said para ayudar a todos, it would shift the focus more to purpose:

ignora sus propias necesidades para ayudar a todos
→ She ignores her own needs in order to help everyone.

That’s possible and still logical, but the original with por sounds more like a consequence/explanation of why she ends up ignoring her own needs, rather than a coldly intentional strategy.

Why is it cuando ignora (present indicative) and not cuando ignore (subjunctive)?

In Spanish, cuando + present indicative is used for:

general truths, habits, or whenever situations:
Cuando llueve, me quedo en casa. – When it rains, I stay home.

Here:

cuando ignora sus propias necesidades = whenever she ignores her own needs / when she ignores her own needs (as a repeated pattern).

Cuando + subjunctive (ignore) appears mainly when talking about a future event from the perspective of the speaker:

Cuando ignore tus consejos, dímelo. – When I (in the future) ignore your advice, tell me.

Our sentence is about a recurrent situation, so cuando + present indicative (ignora) is the natural choice.

Why is por ayudar a todos at the end? Can we move it?

Yes, Spanish has fairly flexible word order. These are all possible:

Ella se siente culpable cuando ignora sus propias necesidades por ayudar a todos.
Ella se siente culpable, por ayudar a todos, cuando ignora sus propias necesidades. (less natural)
Por ayudar a todos, ella se siente culpable cuando ignora sus propias necesidades.

Native speakers tend to keep it as in the original because:

It flows from the internal feeling (se siente culpable)
→ to the condition (cuando ignora sus propias necesidades)
→ to the reason/context (por ayudar a todos).

So yes, you can move por ayudar a todos, but the original order is the most natural and neutral.

Does por ayudar a todos mean she feels guilty because she helps everyone, or because she ignores her own needs?

Grammatically, por ayudar a todos is most directly linked to ignora sus propias necesidades:

She ignores her own needs in the context of / because of helping everyone.

The emotional logic is:

She helps everyone.
In doing so, she ends up ignoring her own needs.
That situation makes her feel guilty.

So it’s not that helping people itself is bad; it’s that helping everyone leads her to neglect herself, and that causes the guilt.

What does culpable add compared to something like se siente mal?

Se siente mal = She feels bad (very general: could be sad, sick, guilty, etc.)
Se siente culpable = She feels guilty (specifically about having done something wrong, or thinking she has).

Culpable is an adjective meaning “guilty” (legally or morally). It’s more precise and stronger than mal in this context.

Why is it ayudar a todos and not just ayudar todos?

The verb ayudar normally takes the personal a when the direct object is a person or group of people:

Ayudo a mi mamá. – I help my mom.
Ayudamos a los estudiantes. – We help the students.

Todos here refers to people (“everyone”), so you need the a:

ayudar a todos – correct
ayudar todos – incorrect in standard Spanish in this meaning.