Breakdown of En la universidad, mi asignatura de este semestre es español.
Questions & Answers about En la universidad, mi asignatura de este semestre es español.
In Spanish, every noun has a grammatical gender: masculine or feminine. The word universidad is feminine, so it takes the feminine article la.
There’s no logical reason you can “work out” from English; gender is part of the word itself, and you learn it together with the noun:
- la universidad
- la ciudad (the city)
- la verdad (the truth)
Many nouns ending in -dad are feminine, which helps you remember that universidad is feminine.
- en la universidad means “at the university / in the university” (location).
- a la universidad means “to the university” (movement, direction).
In your sentence, you’re talking about what your subject is while you are at university, not about going there, so you need the preposition en:
- En la universidad, mi asignatura… = At university, my subject…
- Voy a la universidad = I go to the university.
No. In Spanish you normally need the article with singular countable nouns in this kind of phrase:
- ✅ En la universidad, estudio mucho.
- ❌ En universidad, estudio mucho.
There are a few fixed expressions without articles (e.g. en casa, en clase), but universidad is not one of them. So always say en la universidad here.
It’s optional but natural.
En la universidad is an introductory phrase giving context (where this situation applies). In both Spanish and English it’s common to separate such an introductory element with a comma:
- En la universidad, mi asignatura de este semestre es español.
You could technically omit the comma in a simple sentence, and it would still be correct, but most writers keep it because it makes the sentence easier to read.
In Spain:
- asignatura = a school/university subject (e.g. Spanish, Physics).
- clase can mean:
- the lesson/session (“I have class at 9”), or
- sometimes the group of students.
- curso can mean:
- course / year of study (“first year”, “second year”), or
- a course in the more general sense (especially in adult education, online courses, etc.).
So in your sentence:
- mi asignatura de este semestre es español
= the subject I’m taking this semester is Spanish.
In Latin America, people often use materia where in Spain asignatura is more common.
All three are possible, but they sound slightly different:
mi asignatura de este semestre
– Very natural in Spain. The de links the subject to the time period, like “the subject of this semester”.mi asignatura este semestre
– Also understandable and used, especially in spoken language. Here este semestre works more like a loose time expression (“my subject, this semester, is Spanish”).mi asignatura para este semestre
– Emphasises planning or intention (“my chosen subject for this semester…”). Slightly different nuance, more like you picked it for this period.
For a neutral, standard way to say it, mi asignatura de este semestre is a very good choice.
Yes. Spanish word order is flexible. All of these are possible, with only small changes in emphasis:
- En la universidad, mi asignatura de este semestre es español.
- En la universidad, este semestre mi asignatura es español.
- En la universidad, mi asignatura es español este semestre.
The original version (mi asignatura de este semestre) sounds particularly natural and compact, but the others are grammatically fine.
This is the ser vs. estar issue.
Here es is a linking verb (like “is” in English) that connects the subject mi asignatura with a noun español. It describes what the subject is, not its temporary state or location.
- mi asignatura … es español = my subject is Spanish (as a subject).
You use ser (not estar) to identify or classify:
- Mi asignatura es español. (identity/classification)
- Mi profesor es español. (he is Spanish – nationality)
You would use estar with locations or temporary states, but not here:
- Mi profesor está en clase. (He is in class.)
Both are possible, but they’re used slightly differently:
…es español.
– Very common in this context. Treats español like the name of the subject, similar to English:
“My subject this semester is Spanish.”…es el español.
– Also correct, but sounds more specific, like “the Spanish course” or “the Spanish subject” (as opposed to some other Spanish-related thing).
In everyday speech about what subject you’re taking, español without article is more typical.
Spanish and English follow different capitalization rules:
In Spanish, names of languages are written with lowercase:
- español, inglés, francés, alemán
In English, names of languages are capitalized:
- Spanish, English, French, German
So español is correctly written with a lowercase e in Spanish, even though the English word Spanish is capitalized.
Here español is a noun meaning “Spanish (the language)”, which is masculine in Spanish:
- el español = the Spanish language.
español / española can also be adjectives meaning “Spanish” (from Spain):
- un profesor español (a Spanish teacher – male)
- una profesora española (a Spanish teacher – female)
- una asignatura española (a Spanish subject – for example, about Spain in general)
In your sentence, you’re talking about the language as a subject, so you use the noun form español, not an adjective that would need to match asignatura.
In Spain, universities often divide the academic year into two periods of about four months, called cuatrimestres (literally “four-month terms”). But people also say semestre quite commonly, especially under the influence of English and other systems.
Roughly:
- semestre = semester (two per year)
- trimestre = term/quarter (three per year)
- cuatrimestre = four‑month term (two per year, common in Spain)
Your sentence with este semestre is perfectly understandable and natural; it just assumes a semester-based system. In a strict Spanish university context you might also hear:
- En la universidad, mi asignatura de este cuatrimestre es español.
Yes, but the meaning changes slightly:
Mi asignatura de este semestre…
– The subject I am taking this semester is Spanish.La asignatura de este semestre…
– The subject of this semester (for everyone, or in some specific program) is Spanish.
Using mi makes it clearly personal: it’s your subject. Using la with no possessive makes it sound more general or like a description of a curriculum rather than your individual choice.