Breakdown of Mi hermana tiene un canal pequeño donde graba vídeos en directo mientras juega.
Questions & Answers about Mi hermana tiene un canal pequeño donde graba vídeos en directo mientras juega.
In Spanish, tener (to have) is almost never used in the continuous form (estar teniendo) to talk about normal possession.
- Mi hermana tiene un canal pequeño = “My sister has a small channel.”
- Saying Mi hermana está teniendo un canal pequeño sounds wrong or at best extremely odd in Spanish.
Use tiene (simple present) for stable facts or possessions. The continuous form está teniendo is only used in special expressions where tener means “experiencing”:
- Está teniendo problemas – She is having problems.
- Está teniendo dificultades – She is having difficulties.
Both orders are possible, but the neutral and most common order is:
- noun + adjective → un canal pequeño
In Spanish, most descriptive adjectives follow the noun:
- un coche rojo – a red car
- una casa grande – a big house
If you say un pequeño canal (adjective before the noun), it can sound a bit more emotional, subjective, or stylistic, sometimes giving a slightly more affectionate or literary feel:
- un pequeño canal – “a little channel” (can sound a bit more expressive or “cute”)
In everyday speech, un canal pequeño is more straightforward and neutral.
Yes, donde literally means “where”, and it’s normally used for places. But in Spanish (as in English), it can be used more broadly for anything that functions like a “place” or “space”, even abstractly:
- una situación donde… – a situation where…
- un momento donde… – a moment where…
- un canal donde graba vídeos… – a channel where she records videos…
You could also say:
- …un canal pequeño en el que graba vídeos…
Both donde and en el que are correct here. Donde is shorter and more natural in speech.
Graba is the 3rd person singular of grabar (to record).
- (Ella) graba vídeos en directo – She records live videos.
Spanish simple present is used both for:
Habitual actions (what she usually does)
- Graba vídeos en directo – She (regularly) does live recordings.
General statements (timeless facts)
You can say está grabando vídeos en directo if you mean “she is recording live videos right now”. But the original sentence is describing what she normally does on her channel, so the simple present graba is more natural.
In Spain:
- The usual spelling is vídeo / vídeos (with an accent on ví-).
In much of Latin America:
- It’s often written video/videos (no accent), and pronounced slightly differently.
For European Spanish (Spain), vídeos is the standard spelling. Both forms are understood everywhere; it’s just a regional orthographic difference.
Both mean “live” (as in live broadcast / live stream), but usage varies by region:
In Spain, the common expression is en directo.
- vídeos en directo – live videos / livestreams
In much of Latin America, the common expression is en vivo.
- videos en vivo – live videos
So, for Spanish from Spain, en directo is the most natural and idiomatic choice in this sentence.
In Spanish, subject pronouns (yo, tú, él, ella, nosotros, etc.) are usually omitted because the verb ending already tells you the subject.
- juega → 3rd person singular (he/she/it plays)
From the context of the sentence, the subject is clearly mi hermana, so Spanish normally doesn’t repeat ella:
- …donde graba vídeos en directo mientras juega.
→ “...where she records live videos while she plays.”
You can say mientras ella juega, but it’s only used if you really need to emphasize she (contrast with someone else). In normal, neutral speech, pronoun omission is standard.
Yes, mientras está jugando is grammatically correct, but there’s a nuance:
mientras juega
- More general/habitual: “while she plays (when she plays, in general)”
- Very natural to describe what typically happens during her streams.
mientras está jugando
- Focuses more on an ongoing action at that moment: “while she is in the middle of playing.”
In practice, for describing what she usually does on her channel, mientras juega is the most idiomatic and common.
Grammatical gender in Spanish is based on the noun itself, not on the owner.
canal is masculine, so:
- un canal
- un canal pequeño
hermana is feminine, so:
- mi hermana
- mi hermana mayor, mi hermana pequeña, etc.
The adjective pequeño agrees with canal, not with hermana:
- Mi hermana tiene un canal pequeño.
- If the noun were feminine, the adjective would change:
- Mi hermana tiene una casa pequeña.
No. In this context you need the article:
- ✅ Mi hermana tiene un canal pequeño.
- ❌ Mi hermana tiene canal pequeño. (incorrect)
In Spanish, singular countable nouns almost always need an article (or another determiner) when they refer to something that exists:
- Tengo un coche. – I have a car.
- Tiene una casa. – She has a house.
You can only drop the article in some fixed expressions or after certain verbs like haber:
- Hay un canal pequeño. – There is a small channel.
- Hay canales pequeños. – There are small channels.
Yes, both are correct:
- …un canal pequeño donde graba vídeos en directo…
- …un canal pequeño en el que graba vídeos en directo…
Differences:
donde
- Shorter and more colloquial.
- Very natural in spoken language.
en el que
- Slightly more formal or explicit.
- Often used in more careful or written language.
In everyday conversation in Spain, donde is perfectly natural and probably the more common choice here.
Yes. Canal is used for:
- TV channels: el canal 3, un canal de televisión
- Online platforms:
- un canal de YouTube – a YouTube channel
- un canal de Twitch – a Twitch channel
So un canal pequeño fits perfectly for “a small (online) channel” in modern European Spanish.