Su oído mejoró.

to improve

Breakdown of Su oído mejoró.

• su: its
• el oído: the sense of hearing

Questions & Answers about Su oído mejoró.

What does su mean here?

Su is ambiguous in Spanish. It can mean:

• his
• her
• your (formal)
• their

So Su oído mejoró could mean His hearing improved, Her hearing improved, Your hearing improved (formal), or Their hearing improved, depending on context.

In Spain, if you mean your for more than one person informally, you would usually use vuestro, not su.

Why is it su oído and not something else like sus oído?

Because su agrees with the thing possessed, not with the owner.

Here, oído is singular, so you use su:

• su oído = his/her/your/their ear/hearing

If the noun were plural, you would use sus:

• sus oídos = his/her/your/their ears

This is a very common point of confusion for English speakers.

Does oído mean ear or hearing?

It can mean either, depending on context.

• ear as a body part
• hearing as the sense or ability to hear

In this sentence, it most naturally means hearing, because hearing improved sounds more natural than ear improved in English.

Also, Spanish often uses oreja for the outer ear, while oído can refer more to hearing or to the ear in a broader or more internal sense.