How if statements works in python? [on hold]

I am a newbie in python, trying to learn the coding. below a peace of code. need to understand what happens when the if statement starts

specifically... what happens on if started: command

command = ""
started = False

while True:
    command = input(" > ").lower()
    if command == "start":
        if started:
            print("car is already started")
        else:
            started = True
            print("Car is started ... ")