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Je nettoie l’oreille du chien.

Je nettoie l’oreille du chien.
I clean the dog’s ear.
FromLesson 17inHardcore French
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Breakdown of Je nettoie l’oreille du chien.

je
I
le chien
the dog
nettoyer
to clean
l’oreille
the ear
du
of the
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“How does grammatical gender work in French?”
Every French noun is either masculine or feminine, and this affects the articles and adjectives used with it. "Le" is used with masculine nouns and "la" with feminine ones. Adjectives also change form to match — for example, "petit" (masc.) becomes "petite" (fem.).

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Questions & Answers about Je nettoie l’oreille du chien.

Why is there an apostrophe in l’oreille?
Because oreille begins with a vowel, the feminine article la undergoes elision (dropping the a and replacing it with an apostrophe) to avoid a vowel clash. Hence la oreille becomes l’oreille.
Why is nettoie spelled with ie and not y, and how do I conjugate nettoyer in the present tense?

Nettoyer belongs to the –oyer verb group. In all present-tense forms except nous and vous, the y changes to i before the silent e. The full present-tense paradigm is: • je nettoie
• tu nettoies
• il/elle nettoie
• nous nettoyons
• vous nettoyez
• ils/elles nettoient

What’s the difference between du, de la, and de l’?

These are all combinations of de + definite article:
• de + le = du (masculine singular)
• de + la = de la (feminine singular)
• de + l’ = de l’ (before any singular noun beginning with a vowel or mute h)
Use du before masculine nouns, de la before feminine nouns, and de l’ before vowel-initial nouns.

Why is du chien used instead of de le chien?
In standard French, de + le always contracts to du. So de le chien is ungrammatical (except in very rare poetic uses). You must say du chien.
Is du here a partitive article (‘some’) or a marker of possession?
Here du = de + le expresses a relationship between two nouns (the ear of the dog). It’s the genitive/possessive construction. The partitive sense (“some”) arises in contexts like du pain (“some bread”), but this is not one of them.
Could I instead say Je nettoie son oreille? What’s the nuance?
Yes, you can say Je nettoie son oreille. Grammatically it’s correct. But son can mean “his,” “her,” or “its,” which may be ambiguous. L’oreille du chien makes it absolutely clear you’re talking about the dog.
How would I replace l’oreille du chien with a pronoun to avoid repetition?

Since l’oreille is the direct object and is feminine singular, you use la: Je nettoie l’oreille du chien.
Je la nettoie.

What gender is oreille, and how did I know that?
Oreille is feminine. You can tell because it takes la (eliding to l’), not le. Most French nouns ending in -e are feminine, though there are exceptions.