Learn Spanish (Latin America): Mi hermano estudia alemán.

Mi hermano estudia alemán.

My brother studies German.

Breakdown of Mi hermano estudia alemán.

Questions & Answers about Mi hermano estudia alemán.

Why is the verb estudia instead of estudiar or estudio?

Estudiar is the base dictionary form, meaning "to study". Since we are talking about mi hermano (my brother, which equals "he" or él), we drop the -ar ending and add -a to get estudia. If you were talking about yourself, you would drop the -ar and add -o to make estudio (I study).

Why isn't alemán capitalized like the word German is in English?

In Spanish, the names of languages and nationalities are never capitalized unless they are the very first word in a sentence. So German becomes alemán, Spanish becomes español, and English becomes inglés.

Why does alemán have an accent mark?

The written accent tells you to emphasize that last syllable when speaking (ah-leh-MAHN). Without the accent mark, the standard rules of Spanish pronunciation would make you stress the middle syllable, which would sound incorrect.

If a sister was studying, would it be "Mi hermana estudia alemana"?

No, the name of the language itself doesn't change based on who is speaking or studying it. It would still be Mi hermana estudia alemán. You would only use the feminine word alemana if you were describing a German female, like una mujer alemana.