Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Mi amiga se pone contentísima cuando la cola avanza rápido. - My friend gets super happy when the line moves quickly.

Mi amiga está contentísima.
→ My friend is really happy (right now / at this moment).
Mi amiga es contenta.
→ Normally incorrect in standard Spanish; contento/a is rarely used with ser.

So se pone focuses on the process of becoming happy, not just the state of being happy.

What is contentísima exactly, and how is it formed?

Contentísima is the absolute superlative of contenta (happy).

Base adjective: contenta (happy)
Remove final vowel: content-
Add -ísima (feminine): contentísima

Meaning: very / extremely happy, overjoyed.

It agrees in gender and number with the noun:

Mi amiga está contentísima. (fem. sing.)
Mis amigos están contentísimos. (masc. pl.)

Why contentísima instead of muy contenta? Are they the same?

Both are correct but slightly different in nuance:

Muy contenta = very happy (neutral, very common)
Contentísima = extremely happy, delighted (often a bit stronger or more expressive)

In everyday speech:

Se pone muy contenta is more common and neutral.
Se pone contentísima sounds more emphatic, expressive, or colourful, sometimes slightly more “dramatic” or enthusiastic.

Why is it contentísima (feminine) and not contentísimo?

Adjectives must agree with the noun in gender and number.

Mi amiga → feminine singular → contentísima
Mi amigo → masculine singular → contentísimo

Other examples:

Mi profesor está contentísimo.
Mis profesoras están contentísimas.

What is the function of se in se pone?

Here se is a reflexive pronoun used with ponerse in its reflexive form:

poner = to put / to place (something)
ponerse + adjective = to become (a state), to get (an emotion, condition)

The se doesn’t translate directly into English; it’s just required by the reflexive verb ponerse when used this way:

Me pongo nervioso. → I get nervous.
Se pone triste. → She/He gets sad.
Nos ponemos contentos. → We get happy.

Why is it la cola? Doesn’t cola mean “tail”? How does it mean “queue”?

Cola has two common meanings:

Tail (of an animal, object, etc.)
Queue / line (of people)

In Spain, hacer cola or estar en la cola is the standard way to say to queue / to be in line.

In this sentence, context (moving quickly, making someone happy) clearly shows cola = queue/line, not animal tail.

Why is it cuando la cola avanza rápido and not something with the future, like avanzará?

In Spanish, after cuando (and other time conjunctions like cuando, cuando, en cuanto, después de que), the present tense is typically used to talk about repeated / habitual actions or general truths, even if in English we use the present:

Cuando la cola avanza rápido, mi amiga se pone contentísima.
→ Whenever / when the queue moves quickly, my friend gets really happy.

Using avanzará here would sound wrong. For this kind of general or habitual situation, Spanish prefers present indicative.

Why avanza instead of something like se mueve?

Both are possible, but they have slightly different nuances:

avanzar = to advance, to move forward, to make progress
moverse = to move (in a more general way)

In the context of a queue:

La cola avanza rápido.
→ The line is progressing quickly (you are getting closer to the front).
La cola se mueve.
→ The line is moving (people are starting to move), but it doesn’t necessarily say how fast or how much progress you’re making.

Avanzar emphasizes progress toward the front.

Why is rápido used as an adverb here? Shouldn’t it be rápidamente?

In modern Spanish, many adjectives are also used as adverbs, especially rápido:

La cola avanza rápido. ✅
La cola avanza rápidamente. ✅

Both are correct. Rápido as an adverb is very common and sounds more natural in everyday speech.

Grammatically:

When used as an adverb, rápido is invariable:
- corre rápido, corren rápido (no change)
When used as an adjective, it agrees in gender/number:
- un coche rápido, unas motos rápidas

Could I say Mi amiga se pone muy contenta cuando la cola avanza rápido instead? Is that natural?

Yes, absolutely:

Mi amiga se pone muy contenta cuando la cola avanza rápido.

This is completely natural and very common.

Difference:

muy contenta → neutral, everyday, “very happy”
contentísima → more expressive, “extremely happy / over the moon”

Both convey nearly the same idea; contentísima just adds an extra degree of intensity or expressiveness.

What is the role of the present tense se pone and avanza in this sentence?

Here the present indicative describes a habitual action / general pattern:

Mi amiga se pone contentísima
→ This is what she generally does / how she usually reacts.
cuando la cola avanza rápido
→ This is the general condition that triggers her reaction.

So the whole sentence means: Whenever the queue moves quickly, she (typically) becomes very happy.

Why mi without an accent, and not mí?

Spanish distinguishes:

mi (no accent) = possessive adjective → my
- mi amiga, mi casa, mi coche
mí (with accent) = prepositional pronoun → me (after prepositions)
- para mí, de mí, a mí

In Mi amiga se pone contentísima…, mi is a possessive (my friend), so it does not take an accent.

Why is contentísima feminine but rápido doesn’t change form?

Because they play different grammatical roles:

contentísima is an adjective describing amiga
→ Must agree: amiga (fem. sing.) → contentísima (fem. sing.)
rápido here is an adverb modifying the verb avanza
→ Adverbs in Spanish are invariable, so rápido does not change form regardless of the subject.

So:

La cola avanza rápido. (rápido = adverb, no agreement)
but
un coche rápido, unas motos rápidas (rápido = adjective, agrees with noun)