La meccanica controlla il freno della moto.

Because meccanica is the feminine form of mechanic.

• il meccanico = the male mechanic
• la meccanica = the female mechanic

So this sentence is talking about a woman.

Also, be aware that la meccanica can sometimes mean mechanics as a subject or field, but here the verb and context make it clear that it means the female mechanic.

Italian uses articles more often than English does.

Here, la meccanica means the mechanic, referring to a specific person. In Italian, it is very normal to include the article with nouns like this.

So:

• la meccanica = the mechanic
• not just meccanica on its own in this sentence

Controllare is the infinitive, meaning to check / to inspect / to control.

In the sentence, the verb has to match the subject la meccanica, which is third person singular. So the correct form is controlla:

• io controllo = I check
• tu controlli = you check
• lui/lei controlla = he/she checks

So La meccanica controlla... means The mechanic checks...

Usually, in this kind of sentence, controlla means checks or inspects, not controls in the English sense of operating something.

So here it most likely means the mechanic is checking the brake, not controlling it.

This is a useful vocabulary point because controllare can be a bit of a false friend for English speakers.

Because freno is a masculine singular noun.

That means it takes the masculine singular definite article il:

• il freno = the brake

If it were plural, it would be:

• i freni = the brakes

Della is a contraction of:

• di = of
• la = the

So:

• di + la = della

In this sentence, della moto literally means of the motorcycle.

So:

• il freno della moto = the brake of the motorcycle
• in more natural English: the motorcycle’s brake

Because moto is a feminine noun in Italian.

• la moto = the motorcycle

Since it is feminine, di + la becomes della:

• della moto = of the motorcycle

If the noun were masculine, you might get del instead:

• del libro = of the book

Yes. Moto is the common short form of motocicletta.

Both are feminine:

• la moto
• la motocicletta

In everyday Italian, moto is extremely common and sounds very natural.

Yes, Italian word order can sometimes be changed for emphasis, but this sentence uses the most neutral and standard order:

subject + verb + object

• La meccanica = subject
• controlla = verb
• il freno della moto = object

So this is the most straightforward way to say it.

A rough English-style pronunciation is:

la mek-KA-ni-ka kon-TROL-la eel FRE-no DEL-la MO-to

Stress falls roughly on:

• mecCAnica
• conTROLla
• FREno
• MOto

A more Italian-like pronunciation would keep all vowels clear and short, and the r in freno is lightly rolled or tapped.