El sargento revisa el mapa.

In Spanish, it is very common to use the definite article (el / la) before a noun when you are talking about a specific person or thing.

So el sargento means the sergeant.

If you said just sargento, it would usually sound incomplete in this sentence unless you were using it as a form of address, for example: ¡Sargento! = Sergeant!

Because mapa is also a specific noun here: the map.

So the sentence has:

• el sargento = the sergeant
• el mapa = the map

Spanish uses the definite article very often, just like English does in sentences such as The sergeant checks the map.

This is a very common question. Although many nouns ending in -a are feminine, some are masculine. Mapa is one of them.

So it is:

• el mapa
• not la mapa

Other similar masculine nouns of Greek origin include:

• el problema
• el sistema
• el programa

So you have to learn mapa as an exception to the usual pattern.

Revisa is the third-person singular present tense form of the verb revisar.

That means it can mean:

• he checks/reviews
• she checks/reviews
• it checks/reviews
• or, with a noun subject here, the sergeant checks/reviews

The full conjugation of revisar in the present is:

• yo reviso
• tú revisas
• él / ella / usted revisa
• nosotros/as revisamos
• vosotros/as revisáis
• ellos / ellas / ustedes revisan

Because Spanish often leaves out subject pronouns when they are not needed.

The verb form revisa already tells you the subject is he/she/it/you formal, and here the subject is explicitly stated as el sargento, so adding él would be unnecessary.

Spanish prefers: El sargento revisa el mapa.

Rather than: Él, el sargento, revisa el mapa.

It can mean both, depending on context.

In Spanish, the simple present often covers both:

• The sergeant checks the map
• The sergeant is checking the map

If you want to be extra explicit about an action happening right now, Spanish can also use: El sargento está revisando el mapa.

But revisa by itself is perfectly normal.

Because el mapa is a thing, not a person.

Spanish uses the personal a before a specific human direct object (and sometimes pets or personified beings), for example:

• Veo al sargento. = I see the sergeant.

But with things, you normally do not use it:

• Revisa el mapa.
• not Revisa al mapa.

In Spain, sargento is pronounced approximately like:

sar-HEN-toh

A few key points:

• The g before e makes a strong throaty sound, like the j in Spanish.
• The r here is a single tap, not a strong rolled rr.
• The final o is a clear vowel sound, not reduced like in English.

So the hardest part for many English speakers is the ge sound in sargento.

In Spain, revisa is approximately:

reh-BEE-sah

A few pronunciation notes:

• r at the beginning is stronger than English r
• v and b are pronounced very similarly in Spanish
• s is a clear s sound
• each vowel is pronounced clearly: re-vi-sa

This is the most neutral and standard word order: subject + verb + object

So: El sargento revisa el mapa.

Spanish can change word order for emphasis, but this basic version is the best one to learn first.

For example, you might sometimes hear a more marked order in special contexts, but the normal pattern is:

• El sargento = subject
• revisa = verb
• el mapa = direct object

Yes. The noun sargento can be used for a sergeant regardless of sex, depending on context, though article and other words around it may show whether the person is male or female.

For example:

• el sargento = the male sergeant
• la sargento = the female sergeant

So in your sentence, el sargento specifically indicates a masculine referent.

The infinitive is revisar, and yes, it is a regular -ar verb.

It follows the normal present-tense pattern for -ar verbs:

• hablar → habla
• mirar → mira
• revisar → revisa

So once you know regular -ar endings, revisar is easy to conjugate.