Breakdown of Nós lavamos os dentes todos os dias.
nós
we
todos os dias
every day
lavar os dentes
to brush one's teeth
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Questions & Answers about Nós lavamos os dentes todos os dias.
Why does it say os dentes (the teeth) instead of os nossos dentes (our teeth)?
In Portuguese, when talking about body parts, you usually use the definite article (o, a, os, as) instead of possessive words like "my" or "our". Because the sentence starts with "we", it is already clear whose teeth are being brushed.
The English translation says "we brush", but doesn't lavar mean "to wash"?
Yes! While the verb escovar exists for "to brush", people in Portugal almost always use lavar (to wash) when talking about cleaning their teeth. You are literally saying "we wash the teeth".
Why is "every day" translated as todos os dias? Isn't that plural?
Since the current lesson is about poder (can), how would I change this to say "We can brush our teeth"?
You would use the conjugated form of poder for "we", which is podemos, followed by the infinitive (unconjugated) action verb lavar. The sentence becomes: Nós podemos lavar os dentes todos os dias.