Breakdown of Le robinet est encore ouvert; sans savon, je ne peux pas bien me laver.
Questions & Answers about Le robinet est encore ouvert; sans savon, je ne peux pas bien me laver.
Here, encore means still. Le robinet est encore ouvert = “The tap is still open.”
- Encore often implies “still, contrary to expectation.”
- Toujours can also mean “still,” but it’s more neutral or can even mean “always,” so context matters: Le robinet est toujours ouvert = “The tap is still open” (or “is always open,” depending on context).
- If you mean “again,” you’d typically use forms like à nouveau or de nouveau: Le robinet est à nouveau ouvert (“open again”), or with a verb: Le robinet s’est encore ouvert (“opened again”).
For taps/valves, French uses ouvrir/fermer (open/close), not allumer/éteindre (switch on/off), which are for lights, devices, etc.
- Correct: J’ai fermé le robinet.
- Incorrect: J’ai éteint le robinet.
Se laver means “to wash oneself.” Without the reflexive pronoun, laver means “to wash (something/someone).”
- Je dois me laver. = I need to wash (myself).
- Je lave la voiture. = I’m washing the car.
Before the infinitive: je ne peux pas bien me laver. You attach the reflexive pronoun (me) to the infinitive (laver), not to pouvoir.
- Correct: Je veux me laver.
- Incorrect: Je veux laver me.
Exception: in affirmative imperatives, the pronoun follows with a hyphen: Lave-toi !
The most idiomatic placement is bien se + infinitive: bien me laver.
- Je ne peux pas bien me laver sounds natural.
- Je ne peux pas me laver bien is possible but less common/less idiomatic.
- Je ne peux pas me bien laver is ungrammatical.
You’re modifying a verb (“wash”), so you need the adverb bien (“well”), not the adjective bon (“good”).
- Je me lave bien. = I wash well.
- C’est bon. = It’s good.
Note: bon sometimes acts like an adverb with sense verbs (e.g., ça sent bon), but not here.
Negation (ne … pas) wraps around the conjugated verb, here peux (from pouvoir). The reflexive pronoun belongs to the infinitive laver, not to pouvoir.
- Correct: Je ne peux pas bien me laver.
- Incorrect: Je ne me peux pas laver.
After sans, French usually omits the article for a general/indefinite sense: sans savon = “without soap.”
- Sans le savon targets a specific soap already identified (“without the soap [we talked about]”).
- Sans du/de la/des savon(s) is ungrammatical in standard French.
To emphasize “any,” you can say sans aucun savon or sans savon du tout.
Yes, and you use the definite article with reflexive verbs for body parts:
- Je ne peux pas bien me laver les mains (sans savon).
Not: mes mains in this reflexive structure.
Both are correct; it’s a matter of emphasis/flow.
- Fronted: Sans savon, je ne peux pas bien me laver. (emphasizes the condition)
- Final: Je ne peux pas bien me laver sans savon. (more neutral)
Yes, with slight nuances:
- Je ne peux pas me laver correctement/proprement. (properly)
- Je n’arrive pas à me laver correctement. (I can’t manage to…)
- Je ne peux pas me laver comme il faut. (as one should)
- Le robinet est (encore) ouvert states the valve’s position (open).
- Le robinet (coule)/goutte focuses on water flow (running/leaking). A tap could be slightly open and leaking; coule highlights the water, not just the state of the valve.
- robinet: ro-bee-NEH (final -t silent).
- encore: ahn-KOR (nasal “an” at the start).
- ouvert: oo-VER (final -t silent).
- savon: sa-VOHN (final “-on” is nasal).
- In me laver, the e in me is very light: muh lah-VEH.