Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): En clase intentamos ser educados y no interrumpir cuando otra persona habla. - In class we try to be polite and not interrupt when another person is speaking.

En clase (without article) is the usual way to talk about being in class as an activity or situation:
- En clase hablamos español. – In class we speak Spanish.
En la clase (with article) usually refers to the physical classroom or a specific class:
- En la clase de matemáticas hay 20 alumnos. – In the math class there are 20 students.

In your sentence, it’s about what we do while we are in class generally, so en clase is more natural.

Does educados mean “educated” or “polite”?

In this context, educados means polite / well‑mannered, not “educated” in the academic sense.

Ser educado = to be polite, to have good manners.
Ser bien educado = to be well brought up, well‑mannered.
For “educated” as in “with formal education”, Spanish usually uses instruido, formado, or culto, depending on the nuance.

So the sentence means we try to be polite, not we try to be educated.

Why is it intentamos ser educados and not something like intentamos somos educados?

In Spanish, after many verbs like intentar (to try), you must use the infinitive, not a conjugated verb.

Intentamos ser educados. – We try to be polite.
❌ intentamos somos educados – incorrect structure.

So:

intentar + infinitive is the pattern:
- Intento estudiar. – I try to study.
- Intentan llegar temprano. – They try to arrive early.

Why is it intentamos and not intentamos de or tratar de?

With intentar, you do not use de:

intentar + infinitive:
- Intentamos ser educados.

With tratar, you usually do:

tratar de + infinitive:
- Tratamos de ser educados.

Both intentamos ser educados and tratamos de ser educados mean “we try to be polite”.
The difference is just the verb choice; intentar is a bit more direct, tratar de is also very common.

Why is the subject pronoun nosotros missing? How do we know it’s “we try”?

Spanish usually drops subject pronouns because the verb ending already tells you who the subject is.

intentamos ends in ‑amos, which is the nosotros (we) form for ‑ar verbs in the present tense.
So (Nosotros) intentamos = we try.

It’s normal and more natural in Spanish to say simply Intentamos ser educados without nosotros, unless you want to emphasize “we (as opposed to others)”.

Why is it no interrumpir and not no interrumpimos?

Again, after intentamos, you use the infinitive:

intentamos ser educados y no interrumpir…
Literally: “we try to be polite and not to interrupt…”

Both ser and interrumpir are infinitives linked to the same intentamos:

intentamos ser educados
(intentamos) no interrumpir

If you said no interrumpimos, the structure would change and it wouldn’t match the “try to…” meaning in the same way.

Can the no go after the verb, like interrumpir no?

No. In standard Spanish, no goes before the verb it negates:

no interrumpir – not to interrupt
❌ interrumpir no – incorrect here

You can sometimes see verb + no in very colloquial speech with a different emphasis, but for an infinitive like this, and especially in neutral written Spanish, you must say no interrumpir.

Why is it cuando otra persona habla and not cuando otra persona hable?

Cuando can be followed by the present indicative or the subjunctive, and the choice depends on the meaning.

Present indicative (as in your sentence) is used for:
- Habitual, general actions: things that “whenever X happens, we do Y”.
- Cuando otra persona habla, no interrumpimos. – When another person speaks, we don’t interrupt. (general rule)
Present subjunctive is used when the action is future/uncertain or depends on something:
- Cuando otra persona hable, no la interrumpas. – When another person speaks, don’t interrupt her. (instruction about a future situation)

In En clase intentamos ser educados y no interrumpir cuando otra persona habla, it’s a general rule in class, so habla (present indicative) is correct.

Why is habla in the third person singular?

Because the subject of habla is otra persona (another person):

otra persona = another person → third person singular.
The verb agrees: (esa) persona habla → habla.

So:
…no interrumpir cuando otra persona habla.
= “not to interrupt when another person speaks.”

Why is it otra persona and not otras personas or something like “other people”?

Spanish often uses the singular with otra persona in a general way, like English uses “another person” or “someone else”.

You could say:

cuando otras personas hablan – when other people speak.
cuando los demás hablan – when the others / the rest are speaking.

But otra persona in singular is very natural here to express any other person, not a specific one and not necessarily many at the same time.

Why is clase feminine? How do I know it’s la clase and not el clase?

In Spanish, each noun has a fixed grammatical gender that you generally have to memorize.

clase is always feminine → la clase, una clase, esta clase.
Many nouns ending in ‑e can be masculine or feminine, so the ending doesn’t always tell you. You learn them with their article:
- la clase, la noche, la calle (feminine)
- el coche, el nombre, el café (masculine)

In your sentence, this only matters if you add an article: en la clase (never en el clase).

How is educados agreeing here? Why not educado or educadas?

Educados is the masculine plural form of educado and agrees with the implied subject nosotros:

If the group is all male or mixed: nosotros somos educados → intentamos ser educados.
If the group is all female, you could say:
- En clase intentamos ser educadas…

So the ending shows gender and number agreement with the subject.

Is there any difference between ser educado and estar educado?

Yes:

ser educado: describes a general, lasting quality – being polite, well‑mannered in general.
- Es muy educado. – He is very polite.
estar educado: is rare in this sense; it might sound odd or be interpreted as “to have been educated (taught)” in some specific way.

For politeness and good manners, you normally use ser educado, as in your sentence.