Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): En clase hablamos de cómo la política influye en la economía mundial, aunque usamos ejemplos sencillos. - In class we talk about how politics influences the world economy, although we use simple examples.

En clase hablamos de… = “In class we talk about…” (what generally happens in class)
En la clase de hoy hablamos de… = “In today’s class we talked about…”

Here, the meaning is general, so En clase is more natural.

Is hablamos here present tense (we talk) or past tense (we talked)?

Hablamos (1st person plural) is the same form for:

Present: (nosotros) hablamos = we talk / we are talking
Preterite (simple past): (nosotros) hablamos = we talked

Which one it is depends on context.

In this exact sentence:

En clase hablamos de cómo la política influye en la economía mundial, aunque usamos ejemplos sencillos.

Most readers will understand it as present: “In class we (usually) talk about how politics influences the world economy…”

If you clearly wanted past, you’d often add a time marker:

Ayer en clase hablamos de… = Yesterday in class we talked about…

Without extra context, both readings are grammatically possible, but the habitual present is the more natural interpretation.

Why hablamos de and not just hablamos or hablamos sobre?

The verb hablar needs a preposition when you say what the topic is.

Common options:

hablar de = to talk about
hablar sobre = to talk about (often a bit more formal)
hablar acerca de = to talk about / regarding (formal)

So:

Hablamos de política. = We talk about politics.
Hablamos sobre la economía mundial. = We talk about the world economy.

In your sentence, hablamos de cómo… is the most natural, everyday choice.

You cannot say *hablamos cómo la política influye… without de. You need:

Hablamos de cómo la política influye…

Why do we say de cómo? Can I just say Hablamos cómo la política influye…?

You need de because hablar in the sense of “to talk about” always takes de (or sobre):

hablar de algo = to talk about something

Here cómo la política influye en la economía mundial is the “something” (the topic). So:

Hablamos de [cómo la política influye en la economía mundial].

You cannot drop de:

✅ Hablamos de cómo la política influye…
❌ Hablamos cómo la política influye… (incorrect)

This structure de cómo is common when the topic is an indirect question:

Hablamos de cómo resolver el problema.
Discutimos de por qué pasó eso. (often: discutimos por qué…, but de por qué is also heard)

Why does cómo have an accent here?

Cómo with an accent is used for “how” in direct and indirect questions:

Direct: ¿Cómo influye la política en la economía mundial?
Indirect: Hablamos de cómo la política influye en la economía mundial.

Even though the sentence is not a question on the surface, cómo still introduces an indirect question (“how politics influences…”), so it keeps the accent.

Without accent, como often means “as / like / since / because”:

Como no vino, empezamos sin él. = Since he didn’t come, we started without him.
Es alto como su padre. = He’s tall like his father.

In your sentence, the meaning is clearly “how”, so cómo with accent is required.

What exactly does la política mean here? Why is it feminine and with la?

Política has several meanings:

la política (feminine, with article) = politics (the field in general)
- Me interesa la política. = I’m interested in politics.
una política = a policy
- Necesitamos una política económica clara. = We need a clear economic policy.
político / política (adjective) = political
- partido político = political party
- debate político = political debate

In your sentence:

…de cómo la política influye en la economía mundial…

La política = politics as a general concept.
It’s a feminine noun, so it uses la.

Why is it influir en la economía mundial and not influir la economía mundial?

In Spanish, influir normally takes the preposition en:

influir en algo = to influence something

Examples:

La política influye en la economía. = Politics influences the economy.
Los medios influyen en la opinión pública. = The media influence public opinion.

So in your sentence:

…cómo la política influye en la economía mundial…

en is required.

You can’t say *influir la economía the same way English says “influence the economy”. You need:

influir en la economía

Why is it la economía mundial and not la mundial economía?

In Spanish, most adjectives come after the noun:

economía mundial = world economy
política internacional = international politics
mercado laboral = labor market

Putting mundial before economía (*la mundial economía) is ungrammatical.

So the natural order is:

la economía mundial = the world economy
la economía global = the global economy

Adjectives can come before the noun in some special cases (to add emphasis, express opinion, or for a small group of adjectives like gran, buen, mal), but mundial is not one of those; it goes after.

Why is it aunque usamos ejemplos sencillos with indicative, not aunque usemos with subjunctive?

Aunque (although / even though / even if) can be followed by:

Indicative = something presented as a fact
Subjunctive = something hypothetical, unknown, or not presented as a fact

In your sentence:

…aunque usamos ejemplos sencillos.

Using usamos (indicative) expresses a fact:
“In class, we talk about how politics influences the world economy, although we (actually) use simple examples.”

If you said:

…aunque usemos ejemplos sencillos.

That suggests a more hypothetical or concessive nuance like “even if we (might) use simple examples”, not firmly stating it as a fact.

Here the speaker is describing what really happens in class, so indicative (usamos) is the right choice.

What’s the nuance of ejemplos sencillos? Could I say ejemplos simples or ejemplos fáciles instead?

All three are possible, but with slightly different nuances:

ejemplos sencillos
- Most natural and common here.
- Emphasis on “not complex, clear, straightforward.”
ejemplos simples
- Very close in meaning to sencillos.
- Can sound a bit more neutral or, in some contexts, “overly simple.”
ejemplos fáciles
- Focuses on “easy” from the learner’s point of view (not difficult to solve/understand).
- More about difficulty than about complexity of the example itself.

In this context, the idea is that the topic (politics and world economy) is complex, but the illustrations are kept simple. Ejemplos sencillos fits that best.

Why don’t we say nosotros in (nosotros) hablamos and (nosotros) usamos?

In Spanish, subject pronouns (yo, tú, él, nosotros, etc.) are often dropped because the verb ending already shows who the subject is:

Hablamos = we talk / we talked
Usamos = we use / we used

So:

En clase hablamos de… = In class we talk about…
Aunque usamos ejemplos sencillos. = Although we use simple examples.

You generally add nosotros only for emphasis or contrast:

Nosotros hablamos de política, ellos hablan de deportes. = We talk about politics, they talk about sports.

In your sentence there’s no contrast, so the pronoun is naturally omitted.

Is this sentence specifically “Latin American Spanish”? Would it change in Spain?

The sentence:

En clase hablamos de cómo la política influye en la economía mundial, aunque usamos ejemplos sencillos.

is perfectly natural in all varieties of Spanish (Latin American and European).

No word here is region-specific. Both in Latin America and Spain people would understand and say it this way.

Possible minor regional variations (not required, just alternatives) could be:

En clase solemos hablar de… (we usually talk about…)
…aunque ponemos ejemplos sencillos. (we give simple examples)

But your original sentence is fully standard and neutral.