La profesora peruana estudia japonés.

La is the feminine singular definite article, meaning the.

It is used because profesora is a feminine singular noun. So:

• la profesora = the teacher (female teacher)

In Spanish, it is very common to use the definite article before a profession when talking about a specific person:

• La profesora estudia japonés.
• El médico trabaja mucho.

Because profesora is the feminine form of profesor.

• profesor = male teacher
• profesora = female teacher

Spanish nouns referring to people often change form depending on gender. Since the sentence is about a woman, Spanish uses profesora.

In Spanish, adjectives of nationality usually come after the noun.

So:

• la profesora peruana = the Peruvian teacher

This is the normal word order in Spanish. English often puts adjectives before the noun, but Spanish usually puts them after:

• un libro interesante = an interesting book
• una estudiante española = a Spanish student

Because peruana has to agree with profesora, which is feminine singular.

Spanish adjectives usually agree in:

• gender: masculine/feminine
• number: singular/plural

So:

• profesor peruano
• profesora peruana
• profesores peruanos
• profesoras peruanas

In Spanish, nationalities and languages are normally written with lowercase letters, unlike in English.

So Spanish writes:

• peruana
• japonés
• español
• francés

English writes:

• Peruvian
• Japanese
• Spanish
• French

This is a very common difference between the two languages.

Estudia is the third-person singular present indicative form of estudiar.

Full present tense of estudiar:

• yo estudio
• tú estudias
• él/ella/usted estudia
• nosotros/nosotras estudiamos
• vosotros/vosotras estudiáis
• ellos/ellas/ustedes estudian

So in this sentence, estudia means:

• she studies
• or sometimes she is studying, depending on context

Because Spanish often leaves out subject pronouns when they are not needed.

The verb ending -a in estudia already tells you it is third person singular, so ella can be omitted.

Spanish prefers:

• La profesora peruana estudia japonés.

Instead of:

• La profesora peruana ella estudia japonés. ❌

You could say Ella estudia japonés, but only if you want to emphasize she.

Because after verbs like estudiar, hablar, aprender, and enseñar, Spanish often uses language names without an article.

So:

• estudia japonés
• habla español
• aprendo francés

But in other contexts, the article can appear:

• El japonés es difícil. = Japanese is difficult.
• Me gusta el japonés. = I like Japanese.

So the lack of el here is normal.

Here, japonés is functioning as a noun, meaning the Japanese language.

After estudiar, Spanish commonly uses the language name as a noun:

• estudiar japonés
• estudiar inglés
• estudiar alemán

The same word can also be an adjective in other contexts:

• un libro japonés = a Japanese book

So the word class depends on how it is being used.

The accent mark shows where the stress goes: ja-po-NÉS.

Without the written accent, Spanish stress rules would make you stress it differently. The accent tells you clearly that the final syllable is stressed.

This is also part of the normal spelling of the word:

• japonés
• inglés
• francés

The feminine form is:

• japonesa

And the plural forms are:

• japoneses
• japonesas

In Spain, the j is pronounced like a strong throaty sound, roughly similar to the ch in Scottish loch or German Bach, not like English j.

So:

• japonés sounds approximately like ha-po-NES, but with that Spanish j sound

Also:

• the stress is on the last syllable: ja-po-NÉS

A rough full pronunciation of the sentence in Spain would be:

la pro-fe-SO-ra pe-ru-A-na es-TU-dia ha-po-NÉS

Yes. Profesora can mean:

• teacher
• female teacher
• female professor

The exact English translation depends on context. In everyday learner examples, teacher is often the safest general translation, but professor may also fit in some situations.

The normal, neutral order is:

La profesora peruana estudia japonés.

You can change the order in some cases, but it usually adds emphasis or sounds less neutral. For example:

• Estudia japonés la profesora peruana.
  This is grammatical, but it sounds marked or literary, not the most natural basic order for a learner.

So for standard statements, stick with:

• subject + verb + object

Then both the noun and adjective would need to become plural, and the verb would also change:

• Las profesoras peruanas estudian japonés.

Changes:

• la → las
• profesora → profesoras
• peruana → peruanas
• estudia → estudian

This shows how agreement works across the sentence.