Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): En nuestra ciudad, la ciudadanía confía en la profesora que explica la política del gobierno. - In our city, the citizens trust the teacher who explains the government's politics.

La ciudadanía is a collective noun meaning “the citizenry” – all the citizens of a place seen as a single group, often in a formal, civic or political context.

la ciudadanía – “the citizenry”; used in official / formal language, especially when talking about rights, duties, public opinion, etc.
los ciudadanos – “(the) citizens”; focuses more on individual people as separate members of the group.
la gente – “people” in general; everyday, informal, and doesn’t necessarily mean legal citizens.

In this sentence, la ciudadanía fits because we’re talking about the population of the city from a civic / political perspective, not just random people.

If la ciudadanía refers to many people, why is the verb singular (confía) and not plural (confían)?

In Spanish, the verb agrees with the grammatical form of the subject, not the real-world number of people.

la ciudadanía is grammatically singular (it takes la, not las), so the verb must be singular: la ciudadanía confía.
Using *la ciudadanía confían is considered incorrect in standard Spanish.

This is the same pattern as:

La gente es muy amable. (not la gente son)
El público aplaude. (not el público aplauden)

They all refer to many people, but they are grammatically singular collective nouns.

Why is it confía en la profesora and not just confía la profesora?

Because the verb confiar in the sense of “to trust” or “to have confidence in” requires the preposition en.

The basic pattern is:

confiar en + alguien/algo = to trust / to have confidence in someone or something

Examples:

Confío en ti. – I trust you.
No confían en el sistema. – They don’t trust the system.

So you must say confía en la profesora, never *confía la profesora in this meaning.

Can I say confía a la profesora instead of confía en la profesora?

No, not with this meaning. Confiar a exists, but it means something different:

confiar en alguien = to trust someone
confiar algo a alguien = to entrust something to someone / to put something in someone’s care

For example:

Confío en la profesora. – I trust the teacher.
Confié el proyecto a la profesora. – I entrusted the project to the teacher.

In your sentence we are not saying what is being entrusted; we are simply saying the citizens trust her, so it must be confía en la profesora.

Why is it la profesora and not just profesora here? When do you use the article with professions?

Spanish normally uses an article with countable nouns (like professions) when they are specific people or things, not just mentioned after ser to describe someone’s job.

After ser, without extra information:
- Es profesora. – She is a teacher. (no article)
When it’s a specific person (subject, object, or after a preposition), you do use the article:
- La profesora llegó tarde. – The teacher arrived late.
- Confío en la profesora. – I trust the teacher.

In this sentence, la profesora que explica la política del gobierno is a specific person (that particular teacher known for explaining government policy), so the article la is required.
*confía en profesora sounds wrong in standard Spanish.

What is the difference between profesora and maestra in Spain?

In Spain, the distinction is mainly about the level of education:

maestro / maestra – usually a primary school teacher (roughly ages 6–12).
profesor / profesora – usually a secondary school or university teacher.

Of course, in everyday speech people might stretch these a bit, but that’s the usual rule in Spain.

In many parts of Latin America, maestra is more widely used even for older students, but since you asked about Spain, profesora here suggests a secondary-school or university-level teacher.

Why is the relative pronoun que used in la profesora que explica… instead of quien?

In Spanish, que is the default relative pronoun and is used for both people and things in defining (restrictive) clauses, like this one.

la profesora que explica la política del gobierno
= “the teacher who explains the government’s policy” (identifies which teacher)

Quien/quienes is more limited:

It’s common after prepositions when referring to people:
- La profesora en quien confiamos. – The teacher in whom we trust.
It appears in non-defining (non-restrictive) clauses, usually set off by commas, and sounds more formal:
- La profesora, quien explica la política del gobierno, es muy respetada.
  (“The teacher, who explains the government’s policy, is very respected.”)

In your sentence, we’re specifying which teacher, so que is the natural choice.

In la política del gobierno, why is it del and not de el?

Because in Spanish, de + el (the masculine singular article) always contract to del:

de + el gobierno → del gobierno

You cannot write *de el gobierno; it’s grammatically incorrect as a single phrase.

The same thing happens with a + el → al:

Voy a el parque. → Voy al parque.

Note: This contraction only happens with the article el, not with the pronoun él (which has an accent and doesn’t contract: de él = “of him/his”).

Does política here mean “politics” or “policy”? And what’s the difference between política and políticas?

Política in Spanish is a flexible word. As a noun, it can mean:

Politics in general –
- La política es complicada. – Politics is complicated.
A policy / line of action –
- La política del gobierno. – The government’s policy / political line.
A female politician (less common, and often clearer as mujer política):
- Es una política muy conocida. – She is a well-known politician.

In la política del gobierno, it most naturally means “the government’s policy / political line”, i.e. how the government acts and what it defends.

Singular vs plural:

la política del gobierno – their general policy or political line.
las políticas del gobierno – various specific policies (e.g. economic, social, environmental policies considered separately).

Can I move En nuestra ciudad to the end of the sentence? Is the comma necessary?

Yes, you can move it:

En nuestra ciudad, la ciudadanía confía en la profesora…
La ciudadanía confía en la profesora… en nuestra ciudad.

Both are grammatically correct. The difference is mainly emphasis:

At the start, En nuestra ciudad sets the context/topic first: “As for our city…”
At the end, it feels added as extra information, sometimes with a slight contrast (“…in our city, at least”).

About the comma:

With a short phrase like En nuestra ciudad, the comma is optional.
En nuestra ciudad, la ciudadanía… (with comma) marks a clearer pause.
En nuestra ciudad la ciudadanía… (without comma) is also accepted.

Writers often include the comma, but leaving it out is not an error.

Why do we use la in la ciudadanía if we’re speaking generally about citizens?

Spanish uses the definite article much more often than English when talking about things in general.

Compare:

La ciudadanía confía… – literally “The citizenry trusts…”, but meaning “Citizens trust…”
La gente es rara. – People are strange.
Los españoles cenan tarde. – Spaniards eat dinner late.

Leaving out the article, *Ciudadanía confía…, would sound very odd in normal Spanish; it might appear only in headlines or poetic style.

So la ciudadanía here is the natural way to talk about citizens in general in a full sentence.

Could this sentence use the present continuous, like está confiando, the way English says “is trusting”?

Normally, no. Spanish uses the simple present (confía) much more than English does, and with verbs of mental state or attitude like confiar, the progressive is rare.

La ciudadanía confía en la profesora…
= “The citizens trust the teacher…” / “The citizens are trusting the teacher…”

Using está confiando would sound unusual or marked, as if you were stressing an ongoing process of starting to trust her, and even then most speakers would still prefer confía.

So confía is the correct and natural choice here.

Does el gobierno here mean the current administration or the abstract idea of government?

In context, el gobierno almost always refers to the current governing administration / executive power, not just the abstract concept of “government” as a system.

In Spain, especially:

el Gobierno (often capitalized in news and official texts) = the central government / current administration.
el gobierno (lowercase) can be a bit more general, but in a sentence like this it is still understood as the people in power right now, whose policies are being explained.

So la política del gobierno is best understood as “the policy of the current government / administration”.