Learn Spanish (Spain): Mi padre se afeita todas las mañanas.

Mi padre se afeita todas las mañanas.

My father shaves every morning.

Breakdown of Mi padre se afeita todas las mañanas.

el padre

the father

himself / herself / themselves (reflexive)

la mañana

the morning

Questions & Answers about Mi padre se afeita todas las mañanas.

Why is there a "se" before "afeita"?

The verb is afeitarse (to shave oneself), which is a reflexive verb. In Spanish, when someone does an action to themselves, especially for daily grooming like shaving, washing, or brushing hair, you need a reflexive pronoun. Here, se shows that your father is shaving himself.

What happens if I leave out the "se" and just say "Mi padre afeita"?

If you drop the se, the verb afeitar just means to shave someone or something else. For example, if your father is a barber, you might say Mi padre afeita a los clientes (My father shaves the clients). Without the se, the sentence feels incomplete because it is missing who he is actually shaving!

Literally, "todas las mañanas" means "all the mornings". Is this the normal way to say "every morning"?

Yes! In Spanish, it is very common to use todas las (or todos los for masculine words) plus a plural noun to mean 'every'. You can also say cada mañana, which means 'each morning', but todas las mañanas is incredibly natural and widely used in Spain.

Is the word "mañana" always feminine? I have seen "el mañana" before.

That is a great catch! When mañana means 'the morning', it is feminine (la mañana or las mañanas). However, el mañana is masculine and means 'the future' or 'tomorrow' as a concept. Since we are talking about the early part of the day here, we use the feminine las mañanas.