Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): Mi hermana quiere ser pintora y ya tiene una pared llena de dibujos. - My sister wants to be a painter and already has a wall full of drawings.

Because mi hermana (my sister) is female, the noun for the profession also changes to the feminine form pintora. This is very common with professions: doctor / doctora, profesor / profesora, escritor / escritora, etc.

Why is there no una before pintora (why not quiere ser una pintora)?

With professions, nationalities, and religions, Spanish normally omits the indefinite article after ser when you’re just stating what someone is:

Mi hermana quiere ser pintora. = My sister wants to be a painter.
Soy médico. = I am a doctor.
Ella es mexicana. = She is Mexican.

You use una pintora if you are qualifying or specifying the noun, for example:

Quiere ser una pintora famosa. = She wants to be a famous painter.
Quiere ser una pintora como Frida Kahlo. = She wants to be a painter like Frida Kahlo.

Why is it quiere ser and not quiere a ser?

In Spanish, when querer (to want) is followed by a verb, you use the infinitive directly, without a:

Quiero comer. = I want to eat.
Ellos quieren viajar. = They want to travel.
Mi hermana quiere ser pintora. = My sister wants to be a painter.

Adding a (quiere a ser) is incorrect here. Querer a is used in a different sense, meaning to love someone:

Quiero a mi familia. = I love my family.

Why is it ser pintora and not estar pintora?

Spanish uses ser for permanent or identity-related characteristics, including professions:

ser pintora, ser profesor, ser enfermera, ser abogado, etc.

Estar is used for temporary states or locations, not for what you “are” in terms of profession:

Estoy cansada. = I’m tired.
Estoy en casa. = I’m at home.

So quiere ser pintora (wants to be a painter as her profession/identity) must use ser, not estar.

What does ya add to the sentence? Could we just say tiene una pared llena de dibujos?

Ya here means already and adds the idea that this is happening sooner than expected or that it’s already true by now:

Mi hermana quiere ser pintora y ya tiene una pared llena de dibujos.
= My sister wants to be a painter, and she already has a wall full of drawings.

If you say:

…y tiene una pared llena de dibujos.

it’s still correct, but more neutral: it just states a fact. Adding ya connects it more strongly to her ambition and suggests progress: she’s already at the stage of having a whole wall covered.

Why is it tiene una pared instead of hay una pared?

tener = to have / to possess
haber (hay) = there is / there are (to talk about existence)

Here, the point is that she has this wall as part of her things/space:

Mi hermana ya tiene una pared llena de dibujos.
= My sister already has a wall full of drawings.

If you said:

Hay una pared llena de dibujos.
= There is a wall full of drawings.

you’d just be describing the existence of such a wall somewhere, without clearly saying that it belongs to your sister or is her project.

Why is it una pared instead of la pared?

una pared = a wall (introduces it as one of several possible walls)
la pared = the wall (a specific wall that both speakers know about)

In the sentence, una pared presents this wall as new information: one wall in her room/house is full of drawings.

You might use la pared if both people already know which wall you’re referring to:

Mi hermana quiere ser pintora y ya tiene la pared del cuarto llena de dibujos.
= …and the wall in her room is already full of drawings.

Why is it llena and not lleno?

Lleno / llena is an adjective meaning full. In Spanish, adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.

Noun: la pared (feminine, singular)
Adjective: llena (feminine, singular to match pared)

Other examples:

El vaso está lleno. (masculine, singular)
Las paredes están llenas. (feminine, plural)

Why is it llena de dibujos and not llena con dibujos?

With lleno / llena, the usual preposition to express “full of something” is de, not con:

Una pared llena de dibujos. = A wall full of drawings.
Un estadio lleno de gente. = A stadium full of people.
Una caja llena de libros. = A box full of books.

Lleno con is much less common and tends to sound odd in most contexts. The natural, standard pattern is lleno/llena de + noun.

What exactly does dibujos mean here? Could it be “paintings” or “cartoons”?

Dibujo most directly means drawing, as in something done with pencil, pen, markers, etc.

Depending on context and region, dibujos can also refer to:

pictures / little drawings on a wall, in a notebook, etc.
cartoons (often dibujos animados = animated cartoons)

It usually does not mean “paintings done with paint” (for that, pinturas is more accurate), but in casual speech people might still say dibujos for any kind of kids’ artwork on a wall.

Could we say pinturas instead of dibujos? What would change?

You could say:

…ya tiene una pared llena de pinturas.

This suggests the wall is full of paintings, works made with paint (watercolor, oil, acrylic, etc.), or artwork that looks more like finished paintings.

Using dibujos gives more the idea of drawings, sketches, maybe things done with pencils, markers, crayons. For a learner, dibujos is often the better default for “drawings,” especially for a young aspiring artist.

Why don’t we say Ella at the start, like Ella, mi hermana, quiere ser pintora?

Spanish often omits subject pronouns (yo, tú, él, ella, etc.) when the subject is already clear from the verb form or from context.

Here, the subject is explicitly named: Mi hermana. You don’t need ella because the noun phrase itself is the subject:

Mi hermana quiere ser pintora… ✅
Ella quiere ser pintora… ✅ (also correct, but more natural if you said “she” instead of “my sister”)
Mi hermana ella quiere ser pintora… ❌ (redundant and unnatural in standard Spanish)

Why is it mi hermana and not something like la hermana mía or la hermana de mí?

The normal way to say my sister in Spanish is with a possessive adjective:

mi hermana = my sister
tu hermana = your sister
su hermana = his/her/their/your (formal) sister

You can say una hermana mía (a sister of mine) or la hermana mía (more emphatic/poetic: the sister of mine), but they are less common and have a slightly different nuance.

La hermana de mí is incorrect. The correct structure would be la hermana de él, la hermana de ella, la hermana de Juan, etc. For my, you use mi, not de mí.