Avant le dîner, elle remet un peu de vernis et range le sèche-cheveux dans le tiroir.

Before dinner, she puts on a little more nail polish and puts the hair dryer away in the drawer.

Breakdown of Avant le dîner, elle remet un peu de vernis et range le sèche-cheveux dans le tiroir.

• elle: she
• et: and
• dans: in
• avant: before

Questions & Answers about Avant le dîner, elle remet un peu de vernis et range le sèche-cheveux dans le tiroir.

Why is it Avant le dîner and not just Avant dîner?

In French, meals usually take an article, so le dîner is the normal way to say dinner in this kind of sentence.

• avant le dîner = before dinner
• après le déjeuner = after lunch

French often uses an article where English does not.

What exactly does remet mean here?

Remet is from remettre, which literally means to put back or to put again. In this sentence, it most naturally means to reapply or to put on again.

So elle remet un peu de vernis suggests that she is applying a little more nail polish, not putting it somewhere physically.

This is different from mettre, which just means to put or to put on in a more basic sense.

Why is it un peu de vernis and not un peu du vernis?