Revisamos la mirilla y la perforación.

Breakdown of Revisamos la mirilla y la perforación.

y
and
revisar
to check
la mirilla
the peephole
la perforación
the drill hole

Questions & Answers about Revisamos la mirilla y la perforación.

What does revisamos mean here?

Revisamos is the 1st person plural form of revisar, so it means we check / we inspect / we review.

A very important point: revisamos can mean either:

The form is the same in both tenses, so you need context to know which one is intended.

Examples:

  • Ahora revisamos la mirilla. = Now we’re checking the peephole.
  • Ayer revisamos la mirilla. = Yesterday we checked the peephole.
Why can revisamos mean both we check and we checked?

Because in Spanish, some verb forms are identical in the present and the preterite.

For -ar verbs like revisar:

  • Present: nosotros revisamos
  • Preterite: nosotros revisamos

They look exactly the same. Spanish speakers usually rely on:

  • time words like ayer, hoy, ahora
  • the surrounding sentences
  • the situation itself

So the sentence alone is grammatically ambiguous.

Is revisar the same as English to revise?

Not usually. This is a very common learner question because revisar looks like revise, but it often means:

  • to check
  • to inspect
  • to examine
  • to review

So in many contexts, revisar is a false friend.

For example:

  • Revisamos la mirilla = We checked the peephole not usually
  • We revised the peephole

In academic contexts, revisar un texto can mean to revise/edit/review a text, but in general everyday Spanish, revisar is often more like check or inspect.

Why is la used twice: la mirilla y la perforación?

Spanish often repeats the definite article before each noun:

  • la mirilla y la perforación

This is more natural than leaving the second article out.

In English, we might say:

  • the peephole and the perforation

Spanish usually keeps:

  • the + noun + and + the + noun

If you said la mirilla y perforación, it would usually sound incomplete or unnatural here.

Why are both nouns singular?

Because the sentence is referring to one specific peephole and one specific perforation.

  • la mirilla = the peephole
  • la perforación = the perforation

If there were several of each, you would use the plural:

  • Revisamos las mirillas y las perforaciones.

So the singular tells you the speaker has particular items in mind.

How do I know that la mirilla and la perforación are the objects of the verb?

In Spanish, after a verb like revisamos, the things being checked usually come directly after the verb.

So:

  • Revisamos = the action
  • la mirilla y la perforación = the things being checked

These are the direct objects.

Spanish does not need a word like to or at here. It simply says:

  • We checked the peephole and the perforation.
Why is the word order Revisamos la mirilla y la perforación and not something else?

This is the most normal Spanish word order:

Spanish often allows more flexibility than English, but this version is the most neutral and natural.

Other word orders are possible for emphasis, for example:

  • La mirilla y la perforación las revisamos.

That structure sounds more marked or emphatic, something like:

  • The peephole and the perforation, we checked them.

So the original sentence is the straightforward default order.

Could Revisamos... mean Let’s check...?

Not literally as a standard imperative form, but in real conversation it sometimes can suggest that idea depending on tone and punctuation.

Strictly speaking:

  • Revisamos = we check / we checked
  • Revisemos = let’s check

However, in informal speech, people sometimes say:

  • ¿Revisamos la mirilla y la perforación?

This can mean:

  • Shall we check the peephole and the perforation?

So without context, revisamos is normally just a statement, but in conversation it can sometimes function like a suggestion if used as a question.

Why is it y and not e?

Spanish normally uses y for and.

It changes to e only before words that begin with an i sound, such as:

  • padre e hijo
  • España e Italia

Here the next word is la, not a word starting with an i sound, so it stays:

  • la mirilla y la perforación
What gender are mirilla and perforación, and how can I tell?

Both nouns are feminine, which is why they take la.

  • la mirilla
  • la perforación

How can you tell?

  • mirilla ends in -a, which is often feminine
  • perforación ends in -ción, and nouns ending in -ción are almost always feminine

That is why the sentence uses:

  • la mirilla
  • la perforación

not

  • el mirilla
  • el perforación
What does the ending -ción in perforación tell me?

The ending -ción is very common in Spanish and usually corresponds to English -tion words.

So:

  • perforación ≈ perforation
  • inspección ≈ inspection
  • revisión ≈ revision/review
  • información ≈ information

Two helpful things to remember:

  1. -ción nouns are usually feminine
  2. They often have a clear English cognate

So la perforación is easy to recognise both in form and gender.

How is mirilla pronounced in Spain?

In standard Peninsular Spanish, mirilla is pronounced approximately like:

  • mee-REE-ya

The ll sound in most of Spain is pronounced like y in modern standard speech, so:

  • mirilla sounds roughly like miriya

Also:

  • the stress is on ri: mi-RI-lla
  • the i sounds are like ee in see
How is perforación pronounced, and why does it have an accent mark?

Perforación is pronounced roughly:

  • pehr-fo-ra-THYON in much of Spain

In many parts of Spain, ci before a vowel gives a th sound, so -ción sounds like -thyon. In Latin America, it is usually -syon.

The written accent in perforación shows where the stress goes:

  • per-fo-ra-CIÓN

Without the accent mark, the stress rules would make you expect a different pronunciation, so the accent is necessary.

Would a Spanish speaker always understand this as a complete sentence?

Yes. It is a perfectly normal complete sentence, although by itself it lacks context.

A listener would understand:

  • someone is saying that we checked / check the peephole and the perforation

But they may still wonder:

  • when this happened
  • what kind of peephole
  • what kind of perforation
  • whether revisamos is present or past

So it is grammatically complete, even if the broader situation is not specified.

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