Learn French: Détendons-nous dans le bain chaud.

Détendons-nous dans le bain chaud.

Let's relax in the hot bath.

Breakdown of Détendons-nous dans le bain chaud.

him, it (masculine direct object pronoun)

se détendre

to relax

Questions & Answers about Détendons-nous dans le bain chaud.

Why is there a hyphen and a nous at the end of Détendons-nous?

The verb is se détendre (to relax). When giving a positive command or suggestion with a reflexive verb, the reflexive pronoun (like nous, toi, or vous) moves to the end of the verb and connects with a hyphen.

Wait, where is the subject "we" in this sentence?

There isn't one! To say "let's do something" in French, you use the nous form of the verb but completely drop the subject pronoun. So, Nous nous détendons means "We are relaxing", but Détendons-nous (dropping the subject nous) becomes the suggestion "Let's relax".

What infinitive verb does détendons come from?

It comes from the reflexive verb se détendre, which means "to relax". It follows the normal conjugation rules for regular -re verbs.

Why does chaud come after bain instead of before it?

In French, most adjectives—including those describing temperature like chaud (hot) or froid (cold)—are placed directly after the noun they describe. So "the hot bath" is written as le bain chaud.