Answer in a quiz

Question

I got a question wrong, with more than one fault:Nous nous sommes brossé les cheveux was given as the correct answer, but isn't "brossés" the correct form of the past participle in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

Hi Sydney,
This is one of the answers to your question which is asked fairly often - 
https://french.kwiziq.com/questions/view/wrong-answer-nous-sommes-brosse
 
Hope it helps.

Answer

Bonjour Sydney,This issue was dealt with recently but I don't have the reference to hand.The point is that the direct object is "les cheveux" appearing after the verb se brosser not before.The indirect object is the second "nous" so the English translation is something like "we brushed the hair of ourselves" In other words we brushed our hair, not that of someone or something else.This is why there is no change to the past participle (there would have been had the direct object appeared before the verb)Bonne journéeJim