Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Estoy acostumbrado a estudiar con ruido, pero mi hermana no lo soporta. - I am used to studying with noise, but my sister can’t stand it.

Estoy acostumbrado a… ≈ I’m used to… (current state, acquired habit)
Soy acostumbrado is not idiomatic in modern Spanish and will sound wrong in almost all contexts.

So you say:

Estoy acostumbrado al frío. – I’m used to the cold.
Está acostumbrada a madrugar. – She’s used to getting up early.

What exactly is the structure estar acostumbrado a + infinitive?

It’s:

estar + acostumbrado/a/os/as + a + infinitive

Meaning: to be used to doing something.

In the sentence:

Estoy acostumbrado a estudiar con ruido
- estoy = I am (state)
- acostumbrado = used / accustomed
- a estudiar = to studying

More examples:

Estamos acostumbrados a comer tarde. – We’re used to eating late.
Ella está acostumbrada a conducir de noche. – She’s used to driving at night.

Why is it acostumbrado and not acostumbrada?

Acostumbrado agrees with the gender and number of the subject.

Estoy acostumbrado… – said by a man
Estoy acostumbrada… – said by a woman
Estamos acostumbrados… – group of men / mixed group
Estamos acostumbradas… – group of women

In the sentence, the speaker is male (or grammatically masculine), so we get acostumbrado.

What’s the difference between estar acostumbrado a and acostumbrarse a?

Estar acostumbrado a… focuses on the resulting state:
- Estoy acostumbrado a estudiar con ruido.
  = I am (now) used to studying with noise.
Acostumbrarse a… (reflexive verb) focuses on the process of becoming used to something:
- Me he acostumbrado a estudiar con ruido.
  = I’ve gotten used to studying with noise.

You can often talk about the process with acostumbrarse, and the end state with estar acostumbrado:

Al principio me costaba, pero me he acostumbrado y ahora estoy acostumbrado a estudiar con ruido.

Why is it a estudiar and not something like para estudiar?

With acostumbrado, the preposition is fixed: acostumbrado a + noun / infinitive.

acostumbrado a estudiar
acostumbrado al ruido (a + el = al)
acostumbrado a la oscuridad

Using para (para estudiar) would change the meaning to “in order to study” and break the usual pattern with acostumbrado. So:

Estoy acostumbrado a estudiar con ruido. ✅ (correct pattern)
Estoy acostumbrado para estudiar con ruido. ❌ (ungrammatical here)

What does lo refer to in mi hermana no lo soporta?

Lo is a direct object pronoun meaning “it”. Here it refers to the whole idea of studying with noise / the noise itself.

English would naturally say:

…but my sister can’t stand it.

Spanish uses lo as a neuter pronoun for abstract things, situations, or whole clauses:

No lo entiendo. – I don’t understand it (what you’re saying / this concept).
No lo creo. – I don’t believe it.

So no lo soporta ≈ she can’t stand it.

Why is it lo and not la or le in this sentence?

Because:

We’re talking about “it” as a thing/situation (studying with noise), not about a person.
For non‑personal direct objects, standard Spanish uses lo (masculine/neuter) or la (feminine) depending on the noun, but when you mean “that situation / that thing in general”, you normally choose lo as a neuter pronoun.

Examples:

No soporto el ruido. → No lo soporto. (ruido → lo)
No soporto la música alta. → No la soporto. (música → la)
No soporto estudiar con ruido. → No lo soporto. (whole action → lo, neuter)

Also, in Spain you may hear le for people (No le soporto = I can’t stand him/her), but not for things like noise. So here lo is the only natural choice.

Could we say mi hermana no soporta el ruido instead of mi hermana no lo soporta? What’s the difference?

Yes:

Mi hermana no soporta el ruido. – My sister can’t stand noise.
Mi hermana no lo soporta. – My sister can’t stand it.

No soporta el ruido names the thing directly (el ruido).
No lo soporta uses a pronoun referring back to what was just mentioned:

Estoy acostumbrado a estudiar con ruido, pero mi hermana no lo soporta.

Here lo points to estudiar con ruido / el ruido without repeating the noun. It sounds more natural in continuous speech and avoids repetition.

What exactly does soportar mean here? Is it like “support”?

Soportar is a false friend for English speakers.

In this context, no lo soporta means:

“She can’t stand it / can’t tolerate it / can’t bear it.”

Some common meanings of soportar:

To tolerate / endure:
No soporto el calor. – I can’t stand the heat.
To put up with someone:
No lo soporto. – I can’t stand him.

Using it to mean “support” (help, back up, finance) is usually wrong in Spanish. For that, they use apoyar, mantener, sostener, etc.

Could we use other verbs instead of soportar, like aguantar or tolerar? Are there differences?

Yes, you could say:

…pero mi hermana no lo aguanta.
…pero mi hermana no lo tolera.

Nuance:

soportar – neutral/standard “to stand / tolerate”; can be quite strong in no lo soporto (“I really can’t stand it/him/her”).
aguantar – very common and a bit more informal/colloquial, especially in Spain; also “to put up with”:
- No aguanto el ruido. – I can’t put up with the noise.
tolerar – a bit more formal or technical; often used in official/academic contexts:
- No tolera el ruido. – She doesn’t tolerate noise.

In everyday Spain Spanish, soportar and aguantar are extremely common for this idea.

Why is it con ruido and not al ruido or en ruido?

Because the English idea is “with noise” (accompanied by noise), and the natural preposition in Spanish for that is con.

estudiar con ruido – study with noise (noise is present)
estudiar en ruido – sounds wrong / unidiomatic.
estar acostumbrado al ruido – be used to the noise (in general)

Notice the nuance:

Estoy acostumbrado al ruido. – I’m used to noise (as a general environment).
Estoy acostumbrado a estudiar con ruido. – I’m used to studying while there is noise.

Both are correct, but con ruido ties the noise specifically to the activity of studying.

Can we say con ruidos instead of con ruido?

You can, but it changes the nuance.

con ruido – “with noise” in general, as a mass/unbounded concept. This is the most natural way to say it in Spanish.
con ruidos – “with noises” (various distinct sounds). It draws attention to multiple specific noises (bangs, voices, beeps, etc.) and can sound a bit more literal or descriptive.

In a general statement about your study habits, con ruido is the usual choice.

Where else could we put the pronoun lo in mi hermana no lo soporta?

With a simple conjugated verb like soporta, the object pronoun normally goes before the verb:

Mi hermana no lo soporta. ✅
Mi hermana no soporta lo. ❌ (wrong word order)

If you used an infinitive or gerund, you could attach it:

Mi hermana no puede soportarlo. – My sister can’t stand it.
Mi hermana está soportándolo. – My sister is putting up with it. (less natural here, just structurally correct)

But with just soporta, the correct position is before the verb: no lo soporta.