Faire le menage vs nettoyer

Question

I'm very familiar with the expression, "faire le menage". I chose to write "faire le nettoyage" to see if it would be accepted and it was marked wrong. The alternative phrase given was, "...mon marie et mois allons nettoyer..."

Larousse defines "nettoyer" as a transitive verb in which case doesn't "nettoyer" need a direct object? In that case, is "L'apres-midi mon mari et moi allons nettoyer et nos enfants vont ranger leurs chambres" correct? Don't you need to say "...mon mari et moi allons nettoyer la maison..."?

In English, the verb, "to clean" is both transitive and intransitive which differs from the French.

Merci et Bonne Continuation

Cécile Janty-Davies · Answer

Bonjour N. Hilary, Yes, you can use "nettoyer" on its own to mean "to do the cleaning" in French, but it's more common and natural to use the expression "faire le ménage" for general cleaning or housework."Nettoyer" typically means "to clean" in a more specific sense - cleaning a particular object, surface, or area. For example:
"Je dois nettoyer la cuisine" (I need to clean the kitchen)
"Il faut nettoyer cette tache" (This stain needs to be cleaned)
However, if you want to express the general concept of "doing the cleaning" (as in doing household chores), French speakers more commonly say:
"Je fais le ménage" (I'm doing the cleaning/housework)
"Il faut faire le ménage" (We need to do the cleaning)
So while "nettoyer" isn't wrong, "faire le ménage" is the more idiomatic way to express general cleaning activities in French.