🧼 Hygiene - Higiene
Beginner Spanish · Personal hygiene and daily routines
Personal Hygiene in Spanish
Personal-care vocabulary becomes much more useful when you can describe a routine. Learn a few common hygiene actions, then use reflexive verbs to talk about what you do in the morning, before meals, and before bed.
Your next small win: describe a simple hygiene routine, use common reflexive verbs, and talk naturally about washing your hands, brushing your teeth, showering, and getting ready.
Start with everyday actions
Common Personal-Care Actions
These actions cover many basic hygiene routines.
To shower
To wash your hands
To brush your teeth
To wash your face
To comb your hair
To shave
To put on deodorant
To dry yourself
Name two actions
Say “to shower” and “to brush your teeth” in Spanish.
Ducharse y cepillarse los dientes.
Hygiene items
Soap
Toothbrush
Toothpaste
Shampoo
Conditioner
Deodorant
Comb
Hairbrush
Say who does the action
Reflexive Verbs
Many personal-care actions are reflexive because the person does the action to themselves.
I shower.
You shower.
He or she showers.
More first-person examples
I wash myself.
I brush myself or something on myself, depending on context
I comb my hair.
I shave.
Beginner pattern: for “I” routines, many of these verbs use me before the conjugated verb: me ducho, me lavo, me cepillo, and me peino.
Change the person
Say “I shower” and then “you shower.”
Me ducho.
Te duchas.
Use body parts naturally
The Article with Body Parts
In personal-care routines, Spanish usually uses el, la, los, or las with body parts rather than repeating a possessive word.
I wash my hands.
I brush my teeth.
I wash my face.
Notice the pattern: the reflexive pronoun identifies the person, while the body part normally uses the definite article: las manos, los dientes, la cara.
Build two care phrases
Say that you wash your hands and brush your teeth.
Me lavo las manos.
Me cepillo los dientes.
Put the actions into your day
Morning and Evening Routines
Time phrases turn individual hygiene actions into a complete routine.
I shower in the morning.
I brush my teeth after breakfast.
I wash my face before going to bed.
I put on deodorant after showering.
I wash my hands before eating.
I brush my teeth twice a day.
I comb my hair before leaving the house.
Morning or night?
Do you shower in the morning or at night?
I normally shower in the morning.
Getting ready
Did you brush your teeth already?
Yes, now I'm going to comb my hair.
Build a morning routine
Say that you shower in the morning, brush your teeth after breakfast, and comb your hair before leaving home.
Me ducho por la mañana.
Me cepillo los dientes después del desayuno.
Me peino antes de salir de casa.
More hygiene in context
She combs her hair quickly before leaving.
My father shaves every morning.
I use shampoo and conditioner to wash my hair.
I always wash my face before going to sleep.
The children wash their hands before dinner.
Your turn · 8 quick questions
Practice: Personal Hygiene
Choose the answer that fits each situation. Focus on reflexive verbs, body-part articles, and everyday hygiene routines.
Practice complete
You can describe a basic personal-care routine in Spanish.
A few hygiene phrases to revisit
One last step: describe your routine without choices.
Describe three hygiene actions in order. Include one action with a body part and one time phrase such as por la mañana, antes de, or después de.
Me ducho por la mañana.
Me cepillo los dientes después del desayuno.
Me peino antes de salir de casa.
You want to say “I shower.” Which form fits?
- Me ducho.
- Te duchas.
- Se ducha.
- Nos duchamos.
Me ducho is the first-person reflexive form used for “I shower.”
Me ducho.
You wash your hands before eating. Which sentence matches?
- Me lavo las manos antes de comer.
- Me lavo la cara antes de comer.
- Me cepillo los dientes antes de comer.
- Me peino antes de comer.
Lavarse las manos means to wash your hands, and antes de comer means before eating.
Me lavo las manos antes de comer.
You brush your teeth after breakfast. Which sentence fits?
- Me cepillo los dientes después del desayuno.
- Me cepillo los dientes antes del desayuno.
- Me lavo la cara después del desayuno.
- Me pongo desodorante después del desayuno.
Después del desayuno means after breakfast.
Me cepillo los dientes después del desayuno.
Which sentence uses the usual Spanish article pattern with a body part?
- Me lavo las manos.
- Me lavo la cara.
- Me cepillo los dientes.
- Todas las anteriores.
All three expressions use the definite article with the body part: las manos, la cara, and los dientes.
Me lavo las manos. Me lavo la cara. Me cepillo los dientes.
You put on deodorant after showering. Which sentence matches?
- Me pongo desodorante después de ducharme.
- Me pongo desodorante antes de ducharme.
- Me peino después de ducharme.
- Me afeito después de desayunar.
Después de ducharme means after showering, and me pongo desodorante means I put on deodorant.
Me pongo desodorante después de ducharme.
Someone asks whether you shower in the morning or at night. You normally shower in the morning. What do you say?
- Normalmente me ducho por la mañana.
- Normalmente me ducho por la noche.
- Normalmente me lavo la cara por la mañana.
- Normalmente me peino por la noche.
Por la mañana means in the morning.
Normalmente me ducho por la mañana.
Your father shaves every morning. Which sentence fits?
- Mi padre se afeita todas las mañanas.
- Mi padre se ducha todas las mañanas.
- Mi padre se peina todas las mañanas.
- Mi padre se lava la cara todas las mañanas.
Afeitarse means to shave. With mi padre, the reflexive form is se afeita.
Mi padre se afeita todas las mañanas.
You brush your teeth twice a day. Which sentence matches?
- Me cepillo los dientes dos veces al día.
- Me cepillo los dientes una vez al día.
- Me lavo las manos dos veces al día.
- Me peino dos veces al día.
Dos veces al día means twice a day.
Me cepillo los dientes dos veces al día.