English
His mother died when he was young, and his grandmother brought him up.
“Su madre murió cuando era joven”, I find this ambiguous but leaning towards the mother being young. Personal pronouns have their uses.
If the mother died young maybe “Su madre murió joven” would have been more succinct, but apart from that I still think the sentence is ambiguous.
Su madre murió cuando (él) era joven y ( por lo tanto) su abuela lo crió (a él).
Su madre no murió joven, quien era joven era el hijo. La frase es correcta.
Hope this helps.
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Can I infer that su is enough to put the focus on the boy rather than the mother?
I don’t think so, because this phrase also has a similar meaning, although it is generic and does not begin with ‘Su’:
El/un caballo le dio una coz y murió.
Hope this helps.