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Es peligroso, hay que llamar a la policía.

Es peligroso, hay que llamar a la policía.
It is dangerous, one has to call the police.
From Lesson 84:Impersonal obligation (hay que)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Es peligroso, hay que llamar a la policía.

Who exactly is supposed to call the police since hay que doesn't mention a specific person?
Hay que is an impersonal expression, meaning it doesn't point to a specific person like 'I' or 'you'. It translates to 'one has to', 'we must', or 'it is necessary to'. You form it by using hay plus que, always followed directly by an infinitive verb like llamar.
Why is there an a between llamar and la policía?
This is the 'personal a'. In Spanish, when the direct receiver of an action is a person, a pet, or a group of people, you must put the preposition a right before them. Since la policía (the police force) is a group of people, it requires the personal a.
Why do we use Es instead of Está for 'It is dangerous'?
We use Es (from the verb ser) because being dangerous (peligroso) is describing a core characteristic or fact about the situation, rather than a temporary condition or location.
Is policía always feminine?
When you are talking about the police force as an institution, it is always feminine (la policía). However, if you are talking about a single police officer, the 'el' or 'la' matches the person: el policía (the male officer) or la policía (the female officer).

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