Learn French: C'est l'athlète qui se tord la cheville ! - It is the athlete who twists his ankle!

As you are learning in this lesson, French uses definite articles (le, la, les) instead of possessive adjectives (mon, ton, son) for body parts when the owner is already clear. Here, the reflexive pronoun se tells us exactly whose ankle is being twisted.

What exactly is the reflexive pronoun se doing in se tord?

It acts as an indirect object to show who is affected by the action. Literally, the sentence says the athlete 'twists the ankle to himself'. If you dropped the se and just said tord la cheville, it would sound like he was twisting an ankle that did not belong to him!

Why use the structure C'est ... qui instead of simply saying L'athlète se tord la cheville?

This is a common way to emphasize a subject in French. By wrapping the subject in C'est ... qui (It is ... who), the speaker highlights that the athlete is the specific person twisting his ankle, perhaps in contrast to someone else or to express surprise.

How can we tell if l'athlète translates to 'his' ankle or 'her' ankle in this context?

We can't tell from this sentence alone! The noun athlète is used for both men and women. Because the definite article contracts to l' before a vowel, and the reflexive pronoun se is completely gender-neutral, this exact sentence works perfectly for both 'his ankle' and 'her ankle'.