El cofre guarda la linterna ultravioleta.

The storage chest contains the ultraviolet flashlight.

Breakdown of El cofre guarda la linterna ultravioleta.

• guardar: to keep
• el cofre: the storage chest
• la linterna ultravioleta: the ultraviolet flashlight

Questions & Answers about El cofre guarda la linterna ultravioleta.

Why is it el cofre but la linterna?

Because Spanish nouns have grammatical gender.

• cofre is a masculine noun, so it takes el
• linterna is a feminine noun, so it takes la

This is grammatical gender, not biological sex. A cofre is an object, but it is still treated as masculine in Spanish grammar.

So:

• el cofre
• la linterna

You usually need to learn the noun and its article together.

Why is the verb guarda and not guardar?

Guardar is the infinitive, meaning to keep, to store, or to put away.

In the sentence, the verb is conjugated to match the subject el cofre:

• yo guardo = I keep/store
• tú guardas = you keep/store
• él/ella guarda = he/she keeps/stores

Since el cofre is a third-person singular subject, Spanish uses guarda.

So:

• El cofre guarda... = The chest keeps/stores...

What does guarda mean here exactly?