Learn Hardcore German: Wir waschen uns das Gesicht mit kaltem Wasser.

In German, waschen is often a reflexive verb when you talk about washing a part of your own body (to wash oneself). That means you need a reflexive pronoun to show who is doing the washing. By saying uns, you indicate that we are washing something on ourselves. Without uns, waschen would either be transitive (washing something else) or incomplete for body‑parts.

What case is uns here, and why is it dative instead of accusative?

When a reflexive verb takes another direct object (here das Gesicht, “the face”), the reflexive pronoun shifts to the indirect object slot (dative). So:

das Gesicht = accusative (the thing being washed)
uns = dative (to/for ourselves)
This is a common pattern for reflexive verbs in German when you specify a body part.

Why do we use das Gesicht with a definite article instead of saying unser Gesicht?

With reflexive actions on body parts or personal belongings, German normally uses the definite article plus a reflexive pronoun instead of a possessive pronoun. So you say uns das Gesicht rather than unser Gesicht. It’s more idiomatic and common in everyday speech.

Why is Wasser in the dative case after mit?

The preposition mit always governs the dative case. Anything following mit must be in dative. Hence mit kaltem Wasser, not mit kaltes Wasser or mit kalt Wasser.

Why is the adjective kalt inflected as kaltem in mit kaltem Wasser?

Since mit requires the dative and there’s no article before Wasser, kalt takes the strong dative singular neuter ending -em. Compare:

Nominative neuter: kaltes Wasser
Dative neuter: kaltem Wasser

Why does uns come before das Gesicht in the sentence?

In German word order, short pronouns (including reflexive pronouns) normally come before full noun phrases when both are objects. So you say waschen uns das Gesicht, not waschen das Gesicht uns.

Could we say Wir waschen das Gesicht mit kaltem Wasser or Wir waschen unser Gesicht mit kaltem Wasser instead?

You could drop uns and say Wir waschen das Gesicht mit kaltem Wasser, but then it’s unclear whose face is being washed (it might imply someone else’s). Saying Wir waschen unser Gesicht mit kaltem Wasser is grammatically correct but less idiomatic. Native speakers almost always use the reflexive construction uns das Gesicht waschen to mean washing one’s own face.