Breakdown of Elle se lave le visage avec de l'eau froide.
elle
she
l'eau
the water
froid
cold
avec
with
de
of / from / any (in negative sentences) / about (concerning)
se laver
to wash
le visage
the face
Questions & Answers about Elle se lave le visage avec de l'eau froide.
Why is there a se before lave?
Why does the sentence say le visage (the face) instead of son visage (her face)?
In French, you usually don't use possessive words like "my" or "her" for body parts when the sentence already has a reflexive pronoun. Since se already shows it is her own body, you just use the word for "the", which is le.
Why is it de l'eau instead of just l'eau?
Why does froide come after eau?
Unlike in English, most describing words (adjectives) in French come after the noun they describe. Also, because eau is a feminine word, the adjective takes its feminine form, ending in an "e" (froide).
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