L'equipaggio controlla il giubbotto di salvataggio.

Because equipaggio starts with a vowel. In Italian, the masculine singular definite article becomes l' before a vowel.

• il libro
• l'aereo
• l'equipaggio

So l'equipaggio means the crew.

Because equipaggio is a collective noun. It refers to a group of people, but grammatically it is singular in Italian.

So Italian treats it as:

• l'equipaggio controlla = the crew checks

Not:

• l'equipaggio controllano

This is similar to how English often treats the crew as singular in standard usage.

Here controlla means checks, inspects, or examines.

This is important because controllare is sometimes a false friend for English speakers. It can mean:

• to check
• to inspect
• to monitor
• sometimes to control

In this sentence, the natural meaning is checks rather than controls.

Controlla is the third-person singular present indicative of controllare.

So it can mean:

• checks
• is checking
• does check

The exact English translation depends on context, but the Italian form itself is just the normal present tense.

Because giubbotto begins with a normal consonant sound.

Italian uses:

• il before most masculine singular nouns beginning with a consonant
• lo before special consonant groups such as z, s + consonant, gn, ps, pn, x, and sometimes y
• l' before a vowel

So:

• il giubbotto
• but lo zaino
• lo studente
• l'amico

Literally, it means jacket of rescue/saving.

More naturally in English, it means life jacket.

The structure is:

• giubbotto = jacket
• di salvataggio = for rescue / for saving lives

Italian often uses noun + di + noun where English might use a compound noun:

• giubbotto di salvataggio = life jacket
• camera da letto = bedroom
• spazzolino da denti = toothbrush

Here di helps create a fixed expression describing the type or function of the object.

So giubbotto di salvataggio means a jacket for saving lives / used in rescue.

It is not something you usually translate word-for-word. It is best learned as a full expression meaning life jacket.

Yes, in a normal sentence like this, Italian naturally uses the definite articles:

• l'equipaggio
• il giubbotto di salvataggio

Italian uses articles more often than English does. In English, you might sometimes drop them in headlines or labels, but in ordinary Italian sentences they are usually required.

A rough guide:

• l'equipaggio ≈ leh-kwee-PAJ-joh
• giubbotto ≈ joob-BOT-toh

A few pronunciation notes:

• In equipaggio, qu sounds like kw
• In -aggio, the gg sounds like the j in jam
• In giubbotto, the giu- sounds roughly like joo
• The double tt in giubbotto should be held a little longer than a single t

They are related, but not always exactly the same.

• giubbotto di salvataggio specifically means life jacket
• salvagente can mean a lifebuoy, life preserver, or sometimes a life jacket, depending on context

So giubbotto di salvataggio is more precise if you mean the wearable safety jacket.

Yes, Italian word order is flexible, but this sentence uses the most neutral and common order:

• L'equipaggio controlla il giubbotto di salvataggio.

That is:

• subject + verb + object

You can change the order for emphasis, but the basic version is the best one to learn first.

Yes. Both are masculine singular nouns.

You can see that from the articles:

• l'equipaggio = masculine singular
• il giubbotto = masculine singular

If you made them plural, they would become:

• gli equipaggi = the crews
• i giubbotti = the jackets

Yes. Italian present tense can often match several English present forms, depending on context.

So L'equipaggio controlla il giubbotto di salvataggio could mean:

• The crew checks the life jacket
• The crew is checking the life jacket
• sometimes The crew does check the life jacket

English chooses among these based on situation; Italian simply uses the present tense controlla.