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Tu te laves, puis tu hydrates le tatouage.

Tu te laves, puis tu hydrates le tatouage.
You wash yourself, then you moisturize the tattoo.
From Lesson 220:It is better to (il vaut mieux)·French

Questions & Answers about Tu te laves, puis tu hydrates le tatouage.

Why is it tu te laves but then just tu hydrates without a te?
Verbs are only reflexive (using a pronoun like te) when the action is done to the subject. Tu te laves means "you wash yourself". But in the second half, the action is directed at the tattoo, not yourself. Since le tatouage is the direct object receiving the action, hydrater is not reflexive here.
Can I use the lesson's target structure il vaut mieux to give this as impersonal advice?
Yes! To do that, you drop the subject tu and use the infinitive form of both verbs. It becomes: Il vaut mieux se laver, puis hydrater le tatouage (It is better to wash, then moisturize the tattoo). Notice that the reflexive pronoun changes to the impersonal se!
Doesn't hydrater literally mean "to hydrate"? Why is it translated as "moisturize"?
It does mean "to hydrate", but in the context of skincare, French uses hydrater where English naturally uses "moisturize". For example, face moisturizer is simply called une crème hydratante.
Could I use ensuite instead of puis here?
Absolutely. Both puis and ensuite mean "then" or "next" and are perfect for listing a sequence of actions. Puis works nicely here because it acts a bit like a conjunction joining the two quick steps together.

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