Because “people” (my french self included) would just say (most of the time) “la machine à laver” (or even shorter : la machine) and out of context, you’d figure out which of the 2 is actually talked about.
Also, as “machine à laver” litterally translate to “washing machine”, it didn’t even occure to me that it had to be understood as laundry machine, hence why I initially said it was a “she”.
Because “people” (my french self included) would just say (most of the time) “la machine à laver” (or even shorter : la machine) and out of context, you’d figure out which of the 2 is actually talked about.
Also, as “machine à laver” litterally translate to “washing machine”, it didn’t even occure to me that it had to be understood as laundry machine, hence why I initially said it was a “she”.