Breakdown of Mi amigo estudia español a su propio ritmo.
Questions & Answers about Mi amigo estudia español a su propio ritmo.
Amigo is masculine; amiga is feminine.
- Mi amigo = my (male) friend or a friend referred to with masculine grammar.
- Mi amiga = my (female) friend.
If the friend is a woman, you would say:
- Mi amiga estudia español a su propio ritmo.
In Spanish you normally do not use a definite article with possessives:
- ✅ mi amigo
- ❌ el mi amigo
The possessive (mi, tu, su, nuestro, etc.) already tells you whose thing/person it is, so an extra el / la / los / las is unnecessary and ungrammatical here.
Estudia is the present tense form of estudiar for él/ella/usted:
- yo estudio – I study
- tú estudias – you (informal, singular) study
- él/ella/usted estudia – he/she/you (formal) study
- nosotros estudiamos – we study
- vosotros estudiáis (Spain) – you all (informal) study
- ellos/ellas/ustedes estudian – they / you all study
The subject is mi amigo (he), so the verb must be estudia.
Spanish uses the simple present (estudia) more broadly than English:
- Mi amigo estudia español… can mean:
- he studies it regularly (habit), or
- he is currently studying it (around this period of time).
If you really want to stress that the action is happening right now, you can say:
- Mi amigo está estudiando español.
But in many contexts where English uses is studying, Spanish is fine with simple estudia.
In Spanish:
- Names of languages and nationalities are written with a lowercase initial letter.
So:
- español, inglés, francés, alemán, etc.
You only capitalize Español if it is part of a title (e.g. a book name, course name, or the first word of a sentence).
After verbs like estudiar, hablar, aprender, you usually omit the article:
- ✅ estudiar español
- ✅ aprender inglés
- ✅ hablar francés
You often use the article when the language is a subject/topic, or after verbs like gustar:
- El español es difícil. – Spanish is difficult.
- Me gusta el español. – I like Spanish.
In your sentence, estudia español (without el) is the most natural.
The a is a preposition that here expresses manner: the way something is done.
Common patterns:
- a su ritmo – at his/her/their own pace
- a mi manera – in my way
- a tu gusto – to your liking
- a mano – by hand
- a pie – on foot
So a su propio ritmo literally means “at his/her own rhythm (pace)”.
Without a, su propio ritmo would just mean “his/her own rhythm” as a plain noun phrase, not linked to how he studies.
Propio means own here and adds the idea of individual, personal:
- a su ritmo – at his/her pace
- a su propio ritmo – at his/her own pace (emphasis on it being personal/individual)
Propio must agree with the noun ritmo (masculine singular):
- a su propio ritmo
- If the noun were feminine singular: a su propia velocidad
- Plural masculine: a sus propios ritmos
- Plural feminine: a sus propias formas
So the form propio is chosen because ritmo is masculine and singular.
Su is context-dependent. It can mean:
- his
- her
- its
- your (formal: usted)
- their (ellos/ellas, or ustedes)
In Mi amigo estudia español a su propio ritmo, we know the friend is singular and masculine grammatically, so su here naturally reads as his.
In another context, the same su could be her, your (formal), or their. Only context tells you which one.
There are two main types of possessives in Spanish:
Short forms (before the noun):
- mi, tu, su, nuestro, vuestro, su
- Used directly in front of the noun: su ritmo
Long forms (after the noun):
- mío, tuyo, suyo, nuestro, vuestro, suyo
- Used after the noun: el ritmo suyo
So:
- ✅ su propio ritmo (short possessive before the noun)
- ✅ su ritmo
- ✅ el ritmo suyo (more emphatic/contrastive)
- ❌ suyo propio ritmo (wrong order)
Normal, neutral Spanish in this context is su propio ritmo.
You can move parts around in Spanish more than in English, but not all orders sound natural.
- Most natural:
- Mi amigo estudia español a su propio ritmo.
These others are possible but marked (they sound poetic, emphatic, or just odd in normal conversation):
- Mi amigo, a su propio ritmo, estudia español. (with commas, as extra information)
- A su propio ritmo, mi amigo estudia español. (emphasizes the manner: at his own pace)
Mi amigo a su propio ritmo estudia español without commas feels awkward and is not standard neutral word order.
You need to pluralize the subject and verb:
- Mis amigos estudian español a su propio ritmo.
Notes:
- Mis because amigos is plural.
- Estudian to agree with mis amigos (they).
- A su propio ritmo is still singular, but it’s understood as each one at their own pace.
If you really wanted to stress each one, you could add:- Mis amigos estudian español a su propio ritmo, cada uno.
The sentence:
- Mi amigo estudia español a su propio ritmo.
is completely standard across the Spanish‑speaking world.
Nothing in it is specifically from Spain (like vosotros) or specifically Latin American (like ustedes in informal contexts). It works perfectly in Spain and everywhere else.