Breakdown of Il se dépêche, il se rase vite.
il
he
vite
fast, quickly
se raser
to shave
se dépêcher
to hurry
Questions & Answers about Il se dépêche, il se rase vite.
Why are we using the word se twice in this sentence?
The verbs here are se dépêcher (to hurry) and se raser (to shave). These are daily routine verbs called reflexive verbs. They need a pronoun to show who is receiving the action. Since the subject is il (he), the matching reflexive pronoun is se (himself). Literally, the sentence is saying "he hurries himself, he shaves himself."
The English translation says "He is in a hurry," but there is no word for "is" or "in" here. Why?
Why does the translation say "he is shaving" if there is no equivalent to an "-ing" word in the French sentence?
Why does vite come after the verb rase?
In French, short describing words (adverbs) that tell you how an action is performed, like vite (fast or quickly), usually go right after the conjugated verb. They stick close to the action they are describing.
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