Beginner students of German sometimes get these two verbs mixed up. One reason is simply because in English you brush your teeth, in German you clean your teeth. Although the general meaning of putzen and bürsten is to clean and to brush respectively, the German use of these verbs, in particular putzen, is slightly different from its English usage. See below for examples of the varying uses of bürsten and putzen.
putzen: transitive verb
Definitions
to clean
In other contexts putzen can also mean:
to preen - der Vogel putzt sein Gefieder
to polish - Schuhe putzen
to furbish - blank putzen
to wipe off, rub down - abputzen, den Hund abputzen
Colloquial Expressions:
sich die Nase putzen - to blow one's nose
das Essen wegputzen - to polish off one's food
das Essen verputzen - to scarf one's food down
Wir putzen alles blitze blank! - to clean to a shine
Klinken putzen - to sell from door to door
Related Terms: die Putzfrau (cleaning lady), das Putzmittel (cleaning agent), der Putzfimmel (cleaning mania), putzmunter sein (perky, to be wide-awake)
bürsten: transitive verb
Definitions
to brush - Ich will meine Haare bürsten.
to scrub - die Kleider bürsten
Colloquial Expressions: gegen den Strich bürsten - to rub the wrong way
Related Terms: der Bürstenschnitt (crewcut), die Haarbürste(hairbrush), die Kleiderbürste (the clothes brush)
