Confío en la tutora porque explica la verdad con calma.

I trust the tutor because she explains the truth calmly.

Breakdown of Confío en la tutora porque explica la verdad con calma.

• yo: I
• en: in
• con: with
• porque: because
• .: period
• explicar: to explain
• la verdad: the truth
• la calma: the calm
• confiar: to trust
• la tutora: the advisor

Questions & Answers about Confío en la tutora porque explica la verdad con calma.

Why do we say confío en la tutora and not confío la tutora or confío a la tutora?

In Spanish, when confiar means “to trust (someone/something)”, it almost always takes the preposition en:

• Confiar en alguien = to trust someone
• Confiar en algo = to trust something

So:

• ✅ Confío en la tutora. = I trust the tutor.
• ❌ Confío la tutora. (incorrect for “I trust the tutor”)
• ❌ Confío a la tutora. (incorrect in this meaning)

However, confiar can have a second structure: confiar algo a alguien = “to entrust something to someone”:

• Confío el secreto a la tutora. = I entrust the secret to the tutor.

So:

• Confiar en + persona/cosa = to trust
• Confiar + objeto directo + a + persona = to entrust something to someone

Why is the subject “yo” omitted in Confío en la tutora?

Spanish is a “null-subject” language: the verb ending already tells you who the subject is, so the pronoun is often unnecessary.

• Confío ends in -o, which marks 1st person singular (yo).
• So Confío en la tutora clearly means “I trust the tutor” even without yo.

You would add yo only for emphasis or contrast:

• Yo confío en la tutora, pero ellos no.
  I trust the tutor, but they don’t.

In neutral, non-contrasted statements, omitting yo is more natural in Spanish.

Why do we say la tutora and not just tutora?

In Spanish, definite articles (el, la, los, las) are used much more than “the” in English, especially with professions and roles when referring to a specific person.

• la tutora = the (specific) tutor / my tutor in context
  (often understood as the one you both know, e.g. your assigned tutor)

Saying just tutora without an article would usually sound incomplete here. You would only drop the article in a kind of label or apposition:

• Soy tutora. = I’m a tutor.
• Ana, tutora de 3ºA, ha llegado. = Ana, tutor of 3A, has arrived.

But in your sentence, you are talking about a specific person, so la tutora is the normal form.

What exactly does tutora mean in Spain, and is it specifically feminine?

Yes, tutora is the feminine form of tutor.

• tutor (masc.)
• tutora (fem.)

In Spain, in a school context:

• tutor/a is usually the homeroom teacher / form tutor, the teacher in charge of a particular class group (for administrative, pastoral, and academic follow-up), not necessarily the one who teaches all subjects.

So in Spain:

• la tutora = the female teacher who is your assigned tutor/form teacher
• el tutor = the male equivalent

Why is it Confío and explica in the simple present, instead of something like estoy confiando or está explicando?

Spanish uses the simple present much more widely than English. It often covers what English expresses with either:

• I trust / I explain (simple present), or
• I am trusting / is explaining (present continuous).

In this sentence:

• Confío en la tutora = I trust the tutor / I’m trusting the tutor
  (expresses a general state or attitude)
• porque explica la verdad con calma = because she explains the truth calmly / because she is explaining the truth calmly
  (can be general habit or a specific situation, depending on context)

The progressive forms estoy confiando, está explicando are possible but used less for general truths or stable attitudes. They sound more like a temporary, ongoing process:

• Ahora mismo está explicando la verdad con calma.
  Right now she is explaining the truth calmly.

What’s the difference between porque, por qué, el porqué, and por que? Why is porque used here?

The four forms look similar but are different:

1. porque (one word, no accent)

   • Meaning: because (conjunction of cause)
   • Used to introduce a reason.
   • Example: Confío en la tutora porque explica la verdad con calma.

2. por qué (two words, with accent)

   • Meaning: why (interrogative or exclamative)
   • Used in questions or exclamations:
   • ¿Por qué confías en la tutora? = Why do you trust the tutor?

3. el porqué (one word, with article and accent)

   • Meaning: the reason (a noun)
   • No entiendo el porqué. = I don’t understand the reason.

4. por que (two words, no accent)

   • Much rarer; appears in specific constructions (e.g. with gracias por que, luchar por que
     • subjunctive), not relevant here.

In your sentence we’re giving a reason, so we need porque = because.

Could we use ya que or como instead of porque? Would the meaning change?

Yes, other causal conjunctions are possible, with slight differences in nuance and normal word order:

• porque
  Neutral, most common:

  • Confío en la tutora porque explica la verdad con calma.

• ya que (since / given that)
  Often a bit more formal, can sound like you’re giving a justification that’s already known or assumed:

  • Confío en la tutora, ya que explica la verdad con calma.

• como (since/as)
  Normally placed at the beginning of the sentence to introduce a known cause:

  • Como explica la verdad con calma, confío en la tutora.

The core meaning “I trust her because she explains the truth calmly” stays the same. The differences are mostly style and emphasis.

What does con calma literally mean, and how does it function in the sentence?

Con calma literally means “with calm(ness)”, i.e. calmly / in a calm manner.

Grammatically:

• It’s a prepositional phrase (con + noun) that acts as an adverbial phrase of manner, modifying explica:
  • explica (¿cómo?) con calma = she explains (how?) calmly.

Some possible synonyms:

• tranquilamente (calmly)
• con tranquilidad (with calm/peace)
• despacio (slowly – can overlap, but focuses more on speed)

You can move it around in the sentence:

• …porque explica la verdad con calma.
• …porque explica con calma la verdad.
• …porque, con calma, explica la verdad. (more marked or literary)

All are acceptable; the original order is the most neutral.

Why is it la verdad and not just verdad? Is there a difference between la verdad and la realidad?

1. Article usage

In Spanish, la verdad is normally used with the article when you mean “the truth” in a concrete, specific sense:

• Dice la verdad. = He/She tells the truth.
• Explica la verdad con calma. = She explains the truth calmly.

Without the article (verdad) it usually appears only in certain fixed expressions:

• Es verdad. = It’s true.
• ¿De verdad? = Really? / For real?

So here la verdad is natural and expected.

2. La verdad vs. la realidad

• la verdad = the truth (truthfulness of statements, explanations, what really happened, honesty)
• la realidad = reality (the actual state of the world, facts themselves)

Overlap exists, but:

• Explica la verdad focuses on explaining what is true, being honest or accurate.
• Explica la realidad would sound more like she explains how things really are, the actual situation (slightly different nuance).

If I replaced la verdad with a pronoun, would it be la or lo? And where would it go?

Verdad is a feminine noun (la verdad), so its direct object pronoun is la.

• Full sentence:
  Confío en la tutora porque explica la verdad con calma.
• Replace la verdad with a pronoun:
  Confío en la tutora porque la explica con calma.
  = I trust the tutor because she explains it (the truth) calmly.

Pronoun placement:

• Before a conjugated verb:
  
  • la explica (she explains it)
• With an infinitive or gerund, it can also attach to the end:
  
  • porque quiere explicarla con calma.
    because she wants to explain it calmly.
  • porque está explicándola con calma.
    because she is explaining it calmly.

You would not use lo here, because verdad is feminine.

Why does confío have an accent on the í? How is it pronounced?

Confiar is a verb where the stress moves and affects the i, so an accent mark is added in some forms:

• Infinitive: confiar [kon-fi-AR]
• 1st person singular present: confío [kon-FÍ-o]

The accent mark:

1. Shows where the stress is (on -fí-).
2. Helps indicate that í forms a separate syllable from o: conf-í-o (three syllables: con–fí–o), not “con-fio” as a single glide.

Other present forms also have an accent:

• yo confío
• tú confías
• él/ella confía
• ellos/ellas confían

But:

• nosotros confiamos
• vosotros confiáis

are written without accent on the i in confiamos, and with it in confiáis (to mark stress and diphthong).

Can I change the word order to Porque explica la verdad con calma, confío en la tutora? Is that correct?

Yes, that’s perfectly correct.

• Confío en la tutora porque explica la verdad con calma.
• Porque explica la verdad con calma, confío en la tutora.

Both are grammatical and natural. The difference is mainly in emphasis and information flow:

• Starting with Porque… foregrounds the reason first, then gives the result.
• Placing porque in the middle is the most neutral and very common in speech.

In writing, when the porque-clause comes first, it’s typical to use a comma between the two clauses, as in the example.