La policía cierra la calle por seguridad.

The police close the street for safety.

Breakdown of La policía cierra la calle por seguridad.

• la calle: the street
• cerrar: to close
• por: for
• la seguridad: the safety

Questions & Answers about La policía cierra la calle por seguridad.

What does policía mean in this sentence, and why is it feminine singular?

In Spanish la policía refers to the police force or law‐enforcement institution as a whole. Although English uses a plural verb (“the police are…”), Spanish treats la policía as a singular, feminine noun. You only switch to plural (los policías) when you mean individual officers.

Key points:

• La policía = “the police” (the department or force)
• Feminine singular, so verbs and articles agree accordingly (e.g., la policía cierra).
• To talk about officers:
  • el policía (male officer)
  • la policía (female officer)
  • los policías (multiple officers)

Why is the verb cierra in the third-person singular, and not cierran?

Because la policía is singular, we use the third-person singular form of cerrar: cierra. If you said los policías cierran, you’d be treating “police officers” (a plural noun) as the subject, but here the subject is the singular institution (la policía).

Why do we say por seguridad instead of para seguridad? What’s the difference between por and para here?