Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Su marido llega tarde del trabajo, pero mi esposa cena temprano. - Her husband arrives late from work, but my wife has dinner early.

The possessive itself already marks that the noun is specific, so an article is not needed (and is actually wrong in standard Spanish in this position).

What exactly can su mean here? Is it his, her, your, or their husband?

Su is ambiguous on its own. It can mean:

his husband
her husband
your husband (formal singular or plural: usted / ustedes)
their husband

You find out which one is meant from the context of the conversation.

If you really need to be explicit, Spanish often uses de + pronoun or a name:

el marido de ella = her husband
el marido de él = his husband
el marido de usted = your husband (formal)
el marido de ellos / ellas = their husband

So the sentence is neutral; only the wider context tells you whose husband it is.

Why is su marido but mi esposa? Is there any reason to change possessive from su to mi?

Yes: the possessive matches the owner, not the person or thing owned.

su marido: The husband belongs to some third person (him/her/you formal/them).
mi esposa: The wife belongs to the speaker (“my wife”).

So we’re contrasting someone else’s husband with my wife. That’s why the sentence switches from su to mi: it’s talking about two different possessors.

Why is marido used instead of esposo? Are marido and esposo the same in Spain?

Both refer to a husband, but there are nuance and regional preferences.

In Spain:

marido is very common in everyday speech:
- mi marido = my husband
esposo is understood and used, but often feels a bit more formal, legal, or “careful”/polite in tone.

In much of Latin America:

esposo is more common in neutral everyday speech.
marido can sound more informal or even slightly old-fashioned, depending on the country.

So in Peninsular Spanish, marido is perfectly normal and very natural in daily conversation.

Why does the sentence use esposa and not mujer for “wife,” especially if this is Spanish from Spain?

In Spain, many people say:

mi mujer = my wife (literally “my woman”)
mi marido = my husband

Esposa is also correct and means wife, but in Peninsular Spanish it often sounds a bit more formal, careful, or is used in more neutral/standard Spanish (for example in the media, in writing, or by people avoiding gendered expressions like “mi mujer”).

So:

mi esposa – somewhat more neutral/formal.
mi mujer – very common, everyday, colloquial in Spain.

The sentence is perfectly correct; it’s just using the more “bookish/neutral” esposa rather than colloquial mujer.

Why is it llega tarde del trabajo and not something like desde el trabajo?

De (here in the form del) is the usual preposition to express origin/source with verbs of movement like llegar:

llegar de Madrid = to arrive from Madrid
llegar del cine = to arrive from the cinema
llegar del trabajo = to arrive from work

Desde also means “from,” but it usually emphasizes distance, duration, or starting point in time/space (“from X to Y / since X”). With llegar, de is the normal, neutral choice.

So llega tarde del trabajo = he/she arrives late from work is the natural phrasing.

Why del trabajo and not de el trabajo?

Del is simply the contracted form of de + el:

de + el → del

Spanish always contracts these two:

del = from the / of the (masculine singular)
al = a + el

So:

de el trabajo ❌ (incorrect)
del trabajo ✔️ (correct)

Could you say de su trabajo instead of del trabajo? What would change?

Yes, you can say both, but they sound slightly different:

llega tarde del trabajo
= arrives late from work (work in general, their job, no focus on “whose”)
llega tarde de su trabajo
= arrives late from his/her job (more explicitly “their particular job”)

In everyday Spanish, del trabajo is very common to mean “from work” without needing to mention whose job it is. De su trabajo sounds a bit more specific or explanatory if the exact job is relevant.

Why don’t we say Él su marido or Ella mi esposa? Why are the subject pronouns (él/ella) missing?

Spanish is a “null-subject” language: you normally omit the subject pronouns yo, tú, él, ella, etc. when the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

Here:

llega and cena are third person singular verb forms.
The nouns su marido and mi esposa are right in front of the verbs, so the subject is completely clear.

So:

Su marido llega tarde… = Her/His husband arrives late…
(subject = su marido)
Mi esposa cena temprano. = My wife eats dinner early.
(subject = mi esposa)

You would only add él/ella for emphasis or contrast, not normally:

Él llega tarde, pero ella cena temprano.
He arrives late, but she eats early. (stronger contrast on “he” vs “she”)

Why is it llega tarde and cena temprano, instead of something like “is arriving” or “is having dinner”? How does the Spanish present tense work here?

Spanish simple present (llega, cena) usually covers both:

habitual actions (what generally happens)
actions happening around now (depending on context)

So:

Su marido llega tarde del trabajo
= Her/His husband arrives late from work
(understood as a repeated, usual habit)

In English you prefer he gets/comes home late (simple present for habit) or he is getting home late if it’s just this time.

You only need the Spanish present progressive (está llegando, está cenando) when you really want to stress “right now, in progress,” and even then it’s used less often than in English for habitual descriptions. Here, the simple present is the natural form.

What are tarde and temprano grammatically? Do they change for gender or number?

In this sentence:

tarde = late
temprano = early

They function as adverbs (modifying the verb), not adjectives. As adverbs, they do not change for gender or number:

llega tarde – he/she arrives late
llegan tarde – they arrive late
cena temprano – he/she eats early
cenamos temprano – we eat early

The form of tarde and temprano stays the same in all those cases.

Why is the word order mi esposa cena temprano and not mi esposa temprano cena?

The normal, neutral word order in Spanish is:

Subject – Verb – (Adverbs)

So:

Mi esposa cena temprano.
(Subject = mi esposa; Verb = cena; Adverb = temprano)

You can move adverbs for emphasis:

Mi esposa, temprano, cena. (very marked, almost poetic)
Temprano cena mi esposa. (also marked; emphasizes “early”)

But for everyday, neutral speech, mi esposa cena temprano is the natural order.

Why is it mi esposa cena temprano and not something like mi esposa come la cena temprano?

Spanish has specific verbs for the main meals:

desayunar = to have breakfast
comer = to have lunch (in Spain)
cenar = to have dinner / to eat dinner

So instead of “eat dinner,” you just use cenar:

Mi esposa cena temprano.
= My wife has dinner early.

Comer la cena is possible, but sounds redundant or awkward here. You’d usually only say:

come la cena when you want to stress the dinner (the meal/plate) as a concrete thing, e.g. She eats (the) dinner (on her plate).

For the everyday idea “has dinner,” cenar is the standard choice.