Eu lavo os dentes depois do jantar.

Questions & Answers about Eu lavo os dentes depois do jantar.

Why does it say os dentes (the teeth) instead of "my teeth"?
In Portuguese, when talking about daily actions involving your own body parts, you generally use the definite article (o, a, os, as) rather than a possessive word like "my". Because the sentence starts with Eu lavo (I wash), it is already obvious whose teeth are being brushed!
Why use lavo (I wash) instead of a word for "brush"?
In European Portuguese, the most natural and common way to say "to brush teeth" is lavar os dentes (literally "to wash the teeth"). While the verb escovar (to brush) exists, people almost exclusively use lavar for this daily routine.
Why is it do jantar and not just depois jantar?
The word depois (after) must be paired with de (of) when placed before a noun. Then, because jantar (dinner) acts as a masculine noun here and takes the article o (the), de and o merge together to make do. Literally, you are saying "after of the dinner".
How would I use our current lesson to change this sentence to "I can brush my teeth after dinner"?
You would add the verb poder (can) in the "I" form, which is posso, and change lavo to its unconjugated infinitive form, lavar. The new sentence becomes: Eu posso lavar os dentes depois do jantar.

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