Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): En el curso de español hay una estudiante extranjera cuya lengua materna es el japonés. - In the Spanish course there is a foreign student whose native language is Japanese.

In Spanish, hay means there is / there are and is used to introduce the existence of something, usually something not previously known or specific.

En el curso de español hay una estudiante extranjera…
= In the Spanish course there is a foreign student…

If you said:

En el curso de español está una estudiante extranjera.

this would sound like you’re locating a specific student you already have in mind (more like: that foreign student we know is in the Spanish course). It’s less natural here.

es (is) would also be wrong, because es links two known things (subject + description), not “there is X”:

La estudiante es extranjera. – The student is foreign.

So here we want “there is/there exists” → we use hay.

How can estudiante be feminine if it ends in -e? Why una estudiante and not un estudiante?

Some Spanish nouns that end in -e (and some in -ista) can be masculine or feminine, depending on the article and adjectives, not on the noun’s ending.

Estudiante is one of these:

un estudiante – a (male) student
una estudiante – a (female) student

In the sentence:

hay una estudiante extranjera…

the article una tells you the student is female. The noun estudiante itself doesn’t change form.

Why is it estudiante extranjera and not extranjera estudiante?

Most adjectives in Spanish normally go after the noun:

estudiante extranjera – foreign student
lengua materna – mother tongue

You can put some adjectives before the noun (especially short, “descriptive” or subjective ones), but extranjera is almost always used in post-nominal position here.

Extranjera estudiante would sound odd or poetic; the natural order in everyday Spanish is:

una estudiante extranjera

Why is extranjera in the feminine form?

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

Noun: una estudiante → feminine, singular
Adjective: extranjera → feminine, singular form of extranjero/extranjera

So we get:

una estudiante extranjera (feminine)
un estudiante extranjero (masculine)

Changing the gender of the article changes the adjective too.

What exactly does cuya mean, and how is it different from que or su?

Cuya is a relative possessive pronoun, roughly “whose” in English.

…una estudiante extranjera cuya lengua materna es el japonés.
= …a foreign student whose mother tongue is Japanese.

Differences:

que just means who/that/which and doesn’t show possession:
- una estudiante que habla japonés – a student who speaks Japanese
su is a simple possessive adjective (her/his/their/its), not a relative pronoun:
- una estudiante extranjera y su lengua materna es el japonés – a foreign student and her mother tongue is Japanese (two clauses tied more loosely)

Cuya lets you say “whose X …” in a single, tighter clause. It’s more formal and common in written or careful speech.

Does cuya agree with estudiante or with lengua?

Cuya agrees with the thing possessed, not with the possessor.

In the sentence:

Possessor: una estudiante extranjera (feminine singular person)
Possessed thing: lengua (feminine singular noun)

So we choose cuya (feminine singular):

cuya lengua materna…

If the possessed noun changes, cuyo/cuya/cuyos/cuyas change:

cuyo idioma (masc. sing.)
cuyos idiomas (masc. pl.)
cuyas lenguas (fem. pl.)

The form is always determined by the noun that follows.

Why is it curso de español and not curso del español or curso de el español?

When you talk about a school subject or language as a field of study, Spanish often drops the article:

curso de español – Spanish course
clase de inglés – English class
libro de matemáticas – math book

De el contracts to del, but here we don’t use el at all, so there’s no contraction:

✅ curso de español
❌ curso del español (would sound like “course about the Spanish [language as an object]”, more specific or academic)

So in a normal “language class” context, curso de español is the standard phrase.

What’s the nuance of lengua materna? Could I say idioma nativo instead?

Lengua materna literally means “mother tongue”, just like English. It’s the most common and neutral way to express native language.

You could also hear:

idioma materno – mother tongue (less common but correct)
lengua nativa – native language
idioma nativo – native language

They’re largely synonymous, but:

lengua materna is the most idiomatic in formal and educational contexts.
idioma nativo sounds slightly more technical or influenced by English but is understood.

Why do we say el japonés with an article? Do languages in Spanish always take el?

Languages in Spanish are usually masculine nouns and can take the article el:

el español, el inglés, el japonés, el francés

However, the article is often omitted in some patterns, especially:

After verbs like hablar, estudiar, aprender when speaking generally:
- Habla japonés. – He/She speaks Japanese.
- Estudia español. – He/She studies Spanish.

But with ser, when identifying someone’s language as a thing, using the article is very common and sounds natural:

Su lengua materna es el japonés.
(You might also see/hear …es japonés, but …es el japonés is very typical here.)

So: languages can take the article, but depending on the verb and structure, you sometimes drop it.

Could I change the word order and say Hay una estudiante extranjera en el curso de español?

Yes. Both are correct:

En el curso de español hay una estudiante extranjera…
Hay una estudiante extranjera en el curso de español…

The difference is emphasis:

Starting with En el curso de español… highlights the location/context first.
Starting with Hay una estudiante extranjera… highlights the existence of the student first, then adds where she is.

Grammatically, both are fine in Latin American Spanish.

Is cuya common in Latin American Spanish, or is this sentence a bit formal?

In Latin American Spanish, cuya/cuyo is:

Very common in written language (articles, textbooks, essays, formal descriptions).
Less common in everyday casual speech, where people prefer simpler structures:
- En el curso de español hay una estudiante extranjera y su lengua materna es el japonés.
- En el curso de español hay una estudiante extranjera que tiene el japonés como lengua materna.

So the original sentence is perfectly correct and natural, but it leans a bit toward a more formal or written style because of cuya.