haisha wa te o shoudokushimasu.

The dentist disinfects their hands.

Breakdown of haisha wa te o shoudokushimasu.

• は: topic particle
• を: direct object particle
• 歯医者はいしゃ: dentist
• 手て: hand

Questions & Answers about haisha wa te o shoudokushimasu.

How do you read 歯医者 and 消毒します?

• 歯医者 is read はいしゃ
• 消毒します is read しょうどくします

A few pronunciation notes:

• In はいしゃ, the しゃ is one sound: sha
• 消毒 is a Sino-Japanese word, so it has an on-yomi reading: しょうどく
• します is the polite form of する, meaning to do

So the full sentence is read:

はいしゃ は て を しょうどくします。

What does 歯医者 mean here—dentist or dental clinic?

Here, 歯医者 most naturally means dentist.

That word can sometimes refer to:

• the dentist (the person), or
• the dentist’s office / dental clinic

But in this sentence, because it is followed by は and then does an action, it is understood as the dentist:

歯医者は = As for the dentist, ...

A place would not normally disinfect hands in this way, so the person reading is the natural one.

Why is the particle は used after 歯医者?