Diamo un'occhiata sotto il tavolo.

Diamo is the 1st person plural form of dare, meaning to give.

Literally, diamo un'occhiata means we give a look, but in natural English it means let’s take a look or let’s have a look.

So in this sentence, diamo works like let’s:

• Diamo un'occhiata = Let’s take a look

In Italian, the 1st person plural present tense is often used to make suggestions that include the speaker, just like let’s in English.

So:

• Andiamo = Let’s go
• Vediamo = Let’s see
• Diamo un'occhiata = Let’s take a look

Without context, diamo could also mean we give, but here the sentence clearly has the sense of a suggestion or invitation.

Because occhiata is a feminine singular noun, so its indefinite article is una.

Before a vowel, una is usually shortened to un':

• una occhiata → un'occhiata

So the apostrophe shows that una has been shortened.

This only happens with the feminine article:

• un'occhiata = a look / a glance

Compare:

• un tavolo = a table masculine, no apostrophe
• un'amica = a female friend
• un'occhiata = a look

Yes. Occhiata is related to occhio, which means eye.

Un'occhiata means a look, a glance, or a quick look.

A very common Italian expression is:

• dare un'occhiata = to take a look

So even though the literal idea is connected to the eye, the natural meaning is look/glance.

Both can refer to looking, but they are not exactly the same.

• guardare = to look at / to watch
• dare un'occhiata = to take a quick look / to check

Diamo un'occhiata sotto il tavolo sounds like:

• Let’s check under the table
• Let’s take a quick look under the table

If you said Guardiamo sotto il tavolo, that is also possible, but dare un'occhiata often suggests a brief or practical check.

In Italian, sotto can be followed directly by a noun phrase:

• sotto il tavolo = under the table

You may also hear:

• sotto al tavolo

Both are used, but sotto il tavolo is very common and completely correct.

So for a learner, the safest thing to remember is:

• sotto il tavolo = normal and common
• sotto al tavolo = also possible in many contexts

Because tavolo begins with a normal consonant, t, so it takes il.

Italian uses:

• il before most masculine singular nouns
• lo before masculine singular nouns beginning with certain special sounds, such as z, s + consonant, ps, gn, and a few others

So:

• il tavolo
• il libro
• lo studente
• lo zaino

Tavolo is masculine.

You can tell here because it uses:

• il tavolo

If it were feminine, you would expect something like la instead of il.

A useful breakdown is:

• un-o-CHIA-ta

The stressed syllable is CHIA.

A few pronunciation points:

• occh in occhiata has a hard k sound, like ok
• the h is not pronounced by itself; it helps keep the c hard before i
• so occhiata sounds roughly like ok-KYA-ta

A simple pronunciation guide is:

• DIA-mo u-nok-KYA-ta SOT-to il TA-vo-lo

A few points:

• Diamo has two clear syllables at the start: DIA-mo
• sotto has a double t, so hold the consonant a little more than in English
• tavolo is stressed on TA

Natural rhythm:

• DIAmo un'ocCHIAta SOTto il TAVolo

Yes. Depending on context, natural translations could include:

• Let’s take a look under the table.
• Let’s have a look under the table.
• Let’s check under the table.

They all match the Italian well. The exact English choice depends on how quick, casual, or practical you want the sentence to sound.