Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): Cuando un estudiante reprueba muchas veces, su promedio baja y su autoestima puede sufrir. - When a student fails many times, their average drops and their self-esteem can suffer.

Indicative (reprueba) is used for:
- General truths, habitual actions, or things seen as real and typical.
- Here, the sentence is like a general rule:
  Cuando un estudiante reprueba muchas veces, su promedio baja…
  = Whenever a student fails many times, their average goes down… (a general pattern)
Subjunctive (repruebe) is used for:
- Future, hypothetical, or uncertain events tied to a specific situation.
- Example:
  Cuando un estudiante repruebe este examen, tendrá que repetir el curso.
  = When a student fails this exam, they’ll have to repeat the course. (a specific, not-yet-real event)

So reprueba is correct here because we’re talking about what generally happens, not one specific future case.

What exactly does reprueba mean, and how is it different from falla or pierde?

Reprobar is the main verb in much of Latin America for to fail (an exam / a course).

reprueba = he/she fails or a student fails (3rd person singular present indicative of reprobar)
Common uses:
- reprueba un examen = fails an exam
- reprueba una materia = fails a subject
- reprueba el año = fails the grade/year

Differences:

fallar: literally to fail in the sense of to go wrong, to malfunction, to miss.
- El motor falló = The engine failed.
- Not usually used for failing a school subject in Latin America.
perder (to lose) is used for losing something:
- perder el examen can be heard in some places as slang for to fail an exam, but standard and most common for grades is repruebar/reprobar.

So in a school context in Latin America, reprueba is the natural choice.

Why is it un estudiante reprueba (singular) if we’re really talking about students in general, not one specific student?

Spanish often uses the singular with un/una to express a general idea about any person of that type:

Cuando un estudiante reprueba muchas veces…
= When a student fails many times… / Whenever a student fails many times…
(refers to students in general)

You could also make it clearly plural:

Cuando los estudiantes reprueban muchas veces, su promedio baja…
= When students fail many times, their average goes down…

Both structures are correct. The original sentence is just using a common pattern where a singular un estudiante stands for “a typical student / any student”.

What does promedio mean here, and is su promedio baja the only possible word order?

Promedio in this context means grade point average or simply average grade.

su promedio baja literally: their average goes down.

Word order:

su promedio baja (most natural, subject–verb order)
baja su promedio is also grammatically correct, but:
- It can sound a bit more marked or emphatic on baja (the fact of going down).
- In everyday speech for this idea, su promedio baja is more common.

So both are possible, but the original sounds more neutral and natural.

Why is it su promedio baja and not bajan? Shouldn’t the verb be plural because of promedio and autoestima?

The verb baja agrees with the subject, which here is su promedio (singular).

The sentence actually has two separate clauses:

su promedio baja
- Subject: su promedio (singular)
- Verb: baja (3rd person singular)
y su autoestima puede sufrir
- Subject: su autoestima (singular)
- Verb: puede sufrir (3rd person singular of poder
  - infinitive)

They’re joined by y (“and”), but each clause has its own subject and verb.
There is no single subject that is plural, so we do not use bajan here.

Is autoestima masculine or feminine? Which article does it take?

Autoestima is feminine.

You say: la autoestima, su autoestima, mi autoestima.
Example:
- Su autoestima es muy baja. = His/Her self-esteem is very low.

Even though some Spanish nouns ending in -a are masculine (like el problema, el mapa), autoestima follows the regular pattern and is feminine.

Why is it su autoestima puede sufrir and not just su autoestima sufre?

Both are grammatically correct, but they’re slightly different in nuance:

su autoestima sufre
- Stronger, more direct: the self-esteem actually does suffer.
su autoestima puede sufrir
- Softer, more conditional or potential: the self-esteem can or may suffer, but it’s presented as a likely or possible consequence, not an absolute one.

Using puede sufrir in the original sentence makes it sound like a possible or typical consequence, not a guaranteed one.

Why is sufrir not reflexive here (why not su autoestima puede sufrirse)?

In Spanish, sufrir is normally not reflexive when it means “to suffer” in the sense of “to be affected negatively.”

Natural:
- Su autoestima puede sufrir. = His/Her self-esteem can suffer.
sufrirse exists but is rare and has a more specialized/literary/fossilized use (for example, in some fixed expressions or dialects). For everyday speech about emotional harm, use sufrir, not sufrirse.

Does muchas veces have to go right after reprueba, or can I move it?

You have some flexibility, and all of these are grammatical:

Cuando un estudiante reprueba muchas veces, su promedio baja…
Cuando un estudiante muchas veces reprueba, su promedio baja… (less common, can sound a bit marked)
Cuando un estudiante reprueba, muchas veces su promedio baja… (changes the nuance; now many times modifies how often the average goes down)

The most natural and clear for “fails many times” is the original:

reprueba muchas veces (adverbial phrase right after the verb it modifies)

In Spain I often see suspender used for failing an exam. Is reprueba specifically Latin American?

Yes, there is a regional difference:

Latin America (broadly):
- reprobar is the standard:
  - reprueba un examen / una materia / el año
Spain (Peninsular Spanish):
- suspender is more common:
  - suspende un examen / una asignatura / el curso

So the sentence:

Latin America: Cuando un estudiante reprueba muchas veces…
Spain would more likely say: Cuando un estudiante suspende muchas veces…

Both verbs mean “to fail (academically)” but are preferred in different regions.