Learn Spanish (Latin America): Conducir en la ciudad es difícil.

In English, we often use the "-ing" form of a verb (the gerund) as a noun to act as the subject of a sentence, like "Driving." In Spanish, you must use the infinitive (the base form ending in -ar, -er, or -ir) when a verb acts as the subject. So, "driving" becomes conducir. Using conduciendo here would be grammatically incorrect in Spanish.

I usually hear people say manejar for "to drive" in Latin America. Can I use that here instead?

Yes, absolutely! In Latin America, manejar is much more common than conducir for driving a vehicle in everyday speech. You could perfectly say Manejar en la ciudad es difícil. Conducir is understood everywhere, but it can sound slightly more formal depending on the specific country.

Since we are learning the conditional tense for advice, how could I use this fact to advise a friend not to do it?

You can pair this statement with the conditional form of deber (must/should). For example, you could say No deberías conducir en la ciudad porque es difícil (You shouldn't drive in the city because it is difficult). You could also use the phrase we recently learned, yo en tu lugar, to say Yo en tu lugar no conduciría en la ciudad (In your place, I wouldn't drive in the city).

How would I change this sentence to say "Driving in the city would be difficult"?