Definite articles in Spanish with bodyparts
In Spanish, when you refer to your own or someone else's body parts (and by extension items of clothing, including pockets), you use the definite article (el, la, los las). This is different to English which uses the possessive adjective (mi, tu, su, nuestros etc).
NOTE: when using reflexive verbs, it is clearer who the subject is but Spanish still uses definite articles and not possessives like English would do:
In Spanish there is no need to emphasise who the owner is by using the possesive adjective (my, your, his...) that is required in English.
Although this sentence would be grammatically correct, it would sound very odd to a Spanish speaker:
Clara se lava sus pies cada día.
Clara washes her feet every day.
Spanish does not use the possesive "sus" (her) because for the Spanish-speaker it is clear that reference is being made to her own feet, not somebody else's.
More examples:
Note that it applies when referring to an animal's parts of the body also:
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