Lávate los dientes or cepillarse los dientes?

What is the difference between Lávate los dientes and cepillarse los dientes? My dictionary has both as synonyms but I dont know though.

[Rusty]

Lavarse los dientes means the same thing as cepillarse los dientes.

Some will argue that one is more formal than the other. You should ask how it's said in a particular country of interest.

[Luna Azul]

Originally Posted by sano23

What is the difference between Lávate los dientes and cepillarse los dientes? My dictionary has both as synonyms but I dont know though.

Your question should be "What is the difference between Lávate los dientes and cepíllate los dientes?" (or ..lavarse los dientes and cepillarse...")Both mean the same, it's a matter of personal preference.

[pinosilano]

Lavarse los dientes mean to wash the tooth.
Cepillarse los dientes mean to clean the tooth with a toothbrush and toothpaste.

[Luna Azul]

Originally Posted by pinosilano

Lavarse los dientes mean to wash the tooth.
Cepillarse los dientes mean to clean the tooth with a toothbrush and toothpaste.

Of course, if you translate it word for word. Most people in Colombia say "lavar los dientes" instead of "cepillar los dientes". For some reason the latter sounds kind of arrogant..

[pinosilano]

My friend Giuseppe, standing by me in this moment, is amazed about the expression to wash the tooth, because the correct way of saying is to clean sb teeth; sb standing for possessive adjective, instead of the definitive article 'the'.

What is your opinion about?

[Rusty]

No, it's "to brush one's teeth" in English. Insert the proper possessive determiner where "one's" appears when conjugating.

I brush my teeth. Me lavo los dientes. | Me cepillo los dientes.
He brushes his teeth. Él se lava | se cepilla ....
We brush our teeth. Nos lavamos | nos cepillamos ....

[Luna Azul]

Originally Posted by pinosilano

My friend Giuseppe, standing by me in this moment, is amazed about the expression to wash the tooth, because the correct way of saying is to clean sb teeth; sb standing for possessive adjective, instead of the definitive article 'the'.

What is your opinion about?

"To wash the tooth" sounds funny. It means someone has one tooth that he wants to have washed.. not his tooth (e.g. a shark's tooth?)

If, for example, you are going to wash your dog's teeth, you'd say = "I'm going to wash his/her teeth". Unless the dog has only one tooth left (an old dog) in which case you'd say "his tooth" .

Time to get serious :

In English, as opposed to Spanish, the possessive is always used:

"I'll brush my teeth", because they don't use a pronoun as we do in Spanish: "Me voy a cepillar los dientes".

Or "I'll brush his teeth" = "Le voy a cepillar los dientes"

Does it make sense?

[pinosilano]

Originally Posted by Rusty

I brush my teeth. Me lavo los dientes. | Me cepillo los dientes.
He brushes his teeth. Él se lava | se cepilla ....
We brush our teeth. Nos lavamos | nos cepillamos ....

Originally Posted by Luna Azul

In English, as opposed to Spanish, the possessive is always used:

"I'll brush my teeth", because they don't use a pronoun as we do in Spanish: "Me voy a cepillar los dientes".

Or "I'll brush his teeth" = "Le voy a cepillar los dientes"

Does it make sense?

Giuseppe is sure he have said the same thing. I'm not sure at all, that's why I prefer your contributes.

[Rusty]

The pronoun "somebody's" doesn't refer to oneself. We use the pronoun "one's" to do that.
"To brush somebody's teeth" is the equivalent of 'cepillarle los dientes a alguien'.
"To brush one's teeth" is the equivalent of 'cepillarse los dientes'.

[hazard54321]

I beleive that "lavarse los dientes" is much more colloquial.