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El guardia mira el tatuaje que tiene el sospechoso.

El guardia mira el tatuaje que tiene el sospechoso.
The guard looks at the tattoo that the suspect has.
From Lesson 96:Linking clauses (que)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about El guardia mira el tatuaje que tiene el sospechoso.

Why do we use que here to say "that"?
In Spanish, que is the most common relative pronoun used to connect two ideas. Here, it links "The guard looks at the tattoo" with "the suspect has it." Unlike in English, where you can sometimes drop the word "that" (saying "the tattoo the suspect has"), in Spanish you must always include que.
Why does the sentence say que tiene el sospechoso instead of que el sospechoso tiene?
Both are perfectly correct! Spanish is much more flexible with word order than English. In clauses starting with que, it is very natural and common for native speakers to put the verb (tiene) before the subject (el sospechoso).
Why isn't there a word for "at" after mira?
The Spanish verb mirar already means "to look at" or "to watch." The "at" is built into the verb itself, so you do not need to add an extra preposition. Also, because he is looking at an object (the tattoo) and not a person, we don't need the personal "a" here.
Why is it el guardia if the word ends in "a"?
Some Spanish professions or titles can be either masculine or feminine depending on the person they refer to. El guardia means a male guard, while la guardia means a female guard (or a collective security force).

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