Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): El cliente espera en el banco mientras la empleada revisa su cuenta. - The client waits at the bank while the employee checks his account.

El cliente = the customer (a specific one that the speaker and listener know about, or a generic “the customer” in a story).
Un cliente = a customer (an unspecified or new customer).

In this sentence, using El cliente suggests:

either we already know which customer we’re talking about,
or it’s “the customer” in a little narrative context (like a textbook example or a story).

If you were just describing any random situation, you might also hear Un cliente espera en el banco…

Why is it cliente for a man, not something ending in -o like cliento?

Some Spanish nouns ending in -e don’t change form for masculine/feminine:

el cliente = the male customer
la cliente or la clienta = the female customer (both exist; la clienta is quite common)

So:

Gender is shown by the article (el / la) and sometimes by changing -e to -a.
cliente is one of those nouns where the base form ends in -e and is used for at least the masculine form.

In everyday modern usage in Spain, you’ll very often hear:

el cliente (male)
la clienta (female)

Why is it espera and not está esperando?

Spanish can use the simple present where English prefers the present continuous.

El cliente espera en el banco…
= “The customer is waiting at the bank…” (natural translation in English)
El cliente está esperando en el banco…
= also “The customer is waiting at the bank…”, but with a bit more focus on the ongoing action.

Both are correct. The simple present (espera) is very common in Spanish for actions happening now, especially in narration or descriptions. English forces you to choose between waits and is waiting; Spanish doesn’t always need that distinction.

Why do we use en in en el banco and not a?

Because en expresses location (where someone is), and a usually expresses direction (where someone is going).

esperar en el banco = to wait at / in the bank (location)
ir al banco = to go to the bank (movement / direction)

So:

en → “in / on / at” (place, position)
a → “to” (movement toward something)

Does banco here mean a bank or a bench? How do we know?

banco is ambiguous in Spanish:

banco = a bank (financial institution)
banco = a bench (a long seat)

We understand it as bank (financial) from context:

There is a customer (cliente) and
someone checking an account (revisa su cuenta)

Those strongly suggest a financial bank.
If it were a bench, the context would usually be different (park, waiting for a bus, etc.) or you might see banco del parque (park bench) or similar.

Why is it mientras la empleada revisa su cuenta and not mientras la empleada revise su cuenta?

Mientras can take either:

Indicative (as in revisa) when we’re talking about a real, factual, ongoing situation.
Subjunctive (as in revise) when there is a more hypothetical, future, or uncertain idea.

Here it’s a straightforward description of what is happening:

The customer is waiting while the employee checks his account (factual, happening now) → mientras la empleada revisa su cuenta (indicative).

If it were something like “He will wait until she checks it” with more of a future or condition flavor, then the subjunctive would be more likely.

Why la empleada and not el empleado?

Because the sentence is specifying that the employee is female:

el empleado = the (male) employee
la empleada = the (female) employee

The article and the ending change:

masculine: el
- empleado
feminine: la
- empleada

In Spain, it’s common to match the grammatical gender with the person’s actual gender when it’s known.

Could we say la cliente or la clienta instead of el cliente if the customer is a woman?

Yes, if the customer is female, you can say:

la cliente
la clienta

Both exist, but in modern Spain la clienta is very common and often preferred because it clearly shows the feminine form.

So possible combinations are:

el cliente (male)
la clienta (female)
la cliente (also used, but less visibly marked as feminine)

What’s the nuance of revisar in la empleada revisa su cuenta?

Revisar here means to check, to go over, to examine:

revisar su cuenta = to check his account (look at the balance, recent movements, etc.)

It does not mean “to revise” in the English sense of “rewrite to improve a text.” False friend:

Spanish revisar = to inspect / check / review
English to revise (an essay) = often reescribir / corregir / revisar un texto, depending on context

In a bank context, revisar la cuenta is perfectly natural for “check the account.”

Su cuenta — does su mean “his”, “her”, “their”, or “your”? It seems ambiguous.

Yes, su is ambiguous in Spanish. It can mean:

his account
her account
their account
your account (formal: usted / ustedes)

In this sentence, we interpret su cuenta as the customer’s account, most likely his account because the subject is el cliente (masculine).

If the speaker wanted to be extremely clear, they could say:

la cuenta del cliente = the customer’s account
su cuenta, la del cliente = his account, the customer’s one

But in normal speech, context is usually enough.

Why do we say la empleada revisa su cuenta and not revisa su cuenta la empleada?

Spanish allows more flexible word order than English, but the neutral, most common order is:

Subject – Verb – Object
→ la empleada (subject) revisa (verb) su cuenta (object)

You could say Revisa su cuenta la empleada, but it would be less neutral, more marked, perhaps putting a bit of emphasis on la empleada coming at the end. In a simple, textbook-style sentence, La empleada revisa su cuenta is the natural form.

Could we also say El cliente está esperando en el banco mientras la empleada revisa su cuenta? Is there a difference?

Yes, that’s completely correct too.

El cliente espera en el banco…
→ normal, simple present; very natural in Spanish.
El cliente está esperando en el banco…
→ slightly more focus on the action as an ongoing process right now, similar to English “is waiting”.

In many real contexts, both would be interchangeable, and native speakers wouldn’t feel a big difference. Spanish just uses the simple present more often than English does for “right now” actions.

Why is it en el banco and not al banco after esperar?

With esperar, you have two main patterns:

esperar a + alguien / algo = to wait for someone/something
- Espera al cliente. = He waits for the customer.
esperar en + lugar = to wait in/at a place
- Espera en el banco. = He waits at the bank.

So here:

We’re not saying he waits for the bank; we’re saying he waits at the bank.
That’s why we use en el banco (location), not al banco.