Breakdown of Lavez-vous le dos avec du savon doux et allez au sauna.
et
and
avec
with
au
to the / at the (masculine singular)
aller
to go
du
some (partitive, masculine)
le savon
the soap
se laver
to wash
le
him, it (masculine direct object pronoun)
le dos
the back
doux
soft / gentle
le sauna
the sauna
Questions & Answers about Lavez-vous le dos avec du savon doux et allez au sauna.
Why is the pronoun vous attached to the end of Lavez-vous with a hyphen?
This is the affirmative imperative (giving a positive command). When telling someone to do something with a reflexive verb like se laver (to wash oneself), the pronoun moves after the verb and is connected with a hyphen. Instead of the regular statement Vous vous lavez (You wash yourself), the command becomes Lavez-vous (Wash yourself).
The translation says "your back", but the French says le dos (the back). Why not votre dos?
In French, when referring to body parts, you almost always use the definite article (le, la, les) instead of possessive words like votre (your) or mon (my). The reflexive pronoun vous in Lavez-vous already makes it perfectly clear whose back is being washed!
Why use du savon instead of just savon?
In French, nouns almost always need an article in front of them. Because soap is an uncountable substance here (meaning "some soap"), we use the partitive article du, which is a mandatory contraction of de + le.
Why isn't there a pronoun after allez like there is for Lavez-vous?
Aller (to go) is a regular, non-reflexive verb in this sentence. You only attach a pronoun with a hyphen for reflexive actions (verbs that usually have se in their dictionary form, like se laver). For standard verbs in a command, you just drop the subject pronoun entirely, leaving just allez (go).
Learn Lavez-vous le dos avec du savon doux et allez au sauna and more in French
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free