Il meccanico controlla il volante e i tergicristalli.

They are definite articles: the Italian equivalents of the.

• il meccanico = the mechanic
• il volante = the steering wheel
• i tergicristalli = the windshield wipers

Italian uses articles very often, often more often than English does. The form changes depending on gender and number:

• il = masculine singular
• i = masculine plural

So:

• meccanico is masculine singular, so it takes il
• volante is masculine singular, so it also takes il
• tergicristalli is plural, so it takes i

Because meccanico begins with a normal consonant sound, so the correct masculine singular article is il.

Italian usually uses:

• il before most masculine singular nouns: il meccanico, il volante
• lo before masculine singular nouns beginning with s + consonant, z, ps, gn, and a few other special sound combinations: lo studente, lo zaino
• l’ before a masculine singular noun beginning with a vowel: l’amico

So meccanico takes il, not lo.

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

Its basic pattern is:

• io controllo = I check
• tu controlli = you check
• lui/lei controlla = he/she checks
• noi controlliamo = we check
• voi controllate = you all check
• loro controllano = they check

In this sentence, controlla agrees with il meccanico, which is singular.

It can mean either, depending on context.

The Italian present tense often covers both:

• he checks
• he is checking

So Il meccanico controlla il volante e i tergicristalli could mean either of these in English, depending on the situation.

If Italian wants to be especially explicit about an action in progress, it can also use:

• sta controllando = is checking

But the simple present controlla is very common.

Because Italian often drops subject pronouns when they are not needed.

The verb form controlla already tells you it is third person singular, and the noun il meccanico clearly gives the subject. So adding lui would usually be unnecessary.

Italian commonly says:

• Il meccanico controlla...

rather than:

• Lui il meccanico controlla... or Lui controlla...

A subject pronoun like lui is usually added only for emphasis, contrast, or clarity.

Because nouns ending in -e in Italian can be either masculine or feminine. The ending -e does not tell you the gender as clearly as -o or -a often do.

So you usually have to learn the gender with the noun:

• il volante = masculine
• another -e noun might be feminine, depending on the word

Its plural would normally be volanti, but here it is singular, so we use il volante.

It is a compound noun. The singular form is tergicristallo, and the plural is tergicristalli.

In everyday Italian, tergicristalli is the normal word for windshield wipers. Since a car normally has more than one wiper, the plural is very common.

For this sentence, the important thing to notice is:

• singular: il tergicristallo
• plural: i tergicristalli

So the article changes from il to i because the noun is plural.

Because each noun needs the article that matches its own gender and number.

Here the two nouns are not the same in number:

• il volante = singular
• i tergicristalli = plural

So each noun needs its own correct article.

Even when two nouns are joined by e, Italian often repeats the article clearly before each noun, especially when the article form changes.

Yes, this sentence uses the most basic and common word order:

• Il meccanico = subject
• controlla = verb
• il volante e i tergicristalli = objects

So it follows the familiar Subject–Verb–Object pattern.

Italian word order is often more flexible than English word order, but this sentence is very standard and natural.

E means and.

Sometimes Italian uses ed before a word that begins with e to make pronunciation smoother, for example in more careful or formal style. But before i, you simply use e.

So here:

• il volante e i tergicristalli = correct

A few useful pronunciation points:

• meccanico: the cc before a sounds like a hard k sound, so it is roughly mek-KA-ni-ko
• tergicristalli: the double ll should be held a little longer than a single l, roughly ter-jee-kree-STAL-lee if said approximately for an English speaker

Also remember:

• Italian vowels are usually pronounced clearly
• double consonants matter more in Italian than in English

So try to pronounce the consonants cleanly and the vowels distinctly.

The verb would need to agree with the new subject.

For example:

• Il meccanico controlla... = The mechanic checks...
• I meccanici controllano... = The mechanics check...

So:

• il meccanico → singular subject
• controlla → singular verb

but:

• i meccanici → plural subject
• controllano → plural verb

That subject-verb agreement is very important in Italian.