French · Chapter 7 · Lesson 6 · Grammar primer
Reflexive verbs
Verbs where the subject acts on itself: se laver, se lever, s'appeler, se coucher. The me / te / se pronouns, present-tense use, and a flag that compound tenses need etre.
The short version
French washes itself the hands
With a reflexive verb, body parts take the definite article and not a possessive, because the pronoun has already done the possessing. Je me lave les mains, il se brosse les dents, elle s'est cassé le bras. Je lave mes mains is grammatical and sounds wrong to every French ear.
Je me lave les mains.
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