Le secouriste vérifie le pouls.

Secouriste means first aider, rescuer, or emergency responder, depending on context.

In Le secouriste, the article le shows that this sentence is using the masculine singular form.
If the person were female, you could say La secouriste vérifie le pouls.

The noun secouriste itself often stays the same in masculine and feminine; the article usually tells you the gender.

Le means the for a masculine singular noun.

So:

• le secouriste = the first aider / the rescuer
• le pouls = the pulse

French usually requires an article where English sometimes does too, but French is often even more consistent about using articles.

Vérifie means checks or is checking.

It comes from the verb vérifier, which means to check, to verify, or to examine.

So:

• vérifier = to check
• il/elle vérifie = he/she checks

In this sentence, Le secouriste vérifie le pouls means The first aider checks the pulse.

Because vérifie is the conjugated form of the verb, while vérifier is the infinitive.

Here the subject is Le secouriste, which is third person singular (he/she), so the verb must be conjugated:

• vérifier = to check
• il/elle vérifie = he/she checks

So the sentence follows the normal pattern:

subject + verb + object
Le secouriste + vérifie + le pouls

French present tense often covers both:

• checks
• is checking

So Le secouriste vérifie le pouls can mean:

• The first aider checks the pulse
• The first aider is checking the pulse

The exact English translation depends on context.

Pouls means pulse.

It is spelled p-o-u-l-s, but that final s is not pronounced. The word is pronounced roughly like poo.

This spelling is just part of the word’s standard written form. French has many words where final letters are written but not pronounced.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

Le secouriste vérifie le pouls
≈ luh suh-koor-eest vay-ree-fee luh poo

A few notes:

• Le sounds like luh
• secouriste has a clear -teest ending
• vérifie sounds like vay-ree-fee
• pouls sounds like poo

The final s in pouls is silent.

In French, when talking about body parts, French often uses the definite article (le, la, les) instead of a possessive like his, her, or their, especially when the owner is already obvious.

So French prefers:

• Le secouriste vérifie le pouls.

Literally this looks like The first aider checks the pulse, but in natural English we often say:

• The first aider checks his pulse
• The first aider checks the patient’s pulse
• The first aider checks the pulse

French often leaves the ownership implicit when context makes it clear.

Yes, it is very similar here.

The order is:

• Le secouriste = subject
• vérifie = verb
• le pouls = object

So it follows the standard pattern:

Subject + Verb + Object

That makes this sentence quite straightforward for English speakers.

Yes, that can work in some contexts.

Both vérifier and contrôler can relate to checking, but vérifier is often the more natural everyday choice for checking something like a pulse.

So:

• vérifier le pouls = to check the pulse
• contrôler le pouls = to monitor/check the pulse

Depending on context, contrôler may sound a little more technical or formal.

You would change both the subject article and the verb form:

• Les secouristes vérifient le pouls. = The first aiders check the pulse.

Changes:

• Le → Les
• secouriste → secouristes
• vérifie → vérifient

Notice that vérifient is spelled differently from vérifie, but in speech the ending is often not pronounced very strongly.

You put ne ... pas around the verb:

• Le secouriste ne vérifie pas le pouls.

That means:

• The first aider does not check the pulse
• The first aider isn’t checking the pulse

In everyday spoken French, people often drop ne, so you may hear:

• Le secouriste vérifie pas le pouls.

But in standard written French, use ne ... pas.

Yes. In fact, that is probably the most natural interpretation.

Le secouriste vérifie le pouls usually means the rescuer is checking someone’s pulse, most likely the injured or unconscious person’s pulse.

French does not have to specify the owner if context makes it obvious. If needed, French could make it clearer:

• Le secouriste vérifie le pouls du blessé. = The first aider checks the injured person’s pulse.
• Le secouriste lui vérifie le pouls. = The first aider checks his/her pulse.

So the basic sentence is normal even without stating whose pulse it is.