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I've read these sentences in my Rosetta Stone courses:
请洗洗你的袜子
请洗一下楼梯
However, why does the first sentence use two 洗 consecutively before taking the object? Also, how can I tell when to use one verb and when to use two verbs?
And finally, does the 请洗你的袜子 make sense in Mandarin? If that does make sense and is used often, what's the difference between the two?
quotation from 外国人实用汉语语法： (1) the reduplication of a verb implies a short and quick action
(2) expresses an attempt or trial
(3)expresses a sense of being light and relaxed
and the same goes for [verb] +一下
请洗你的袜子 seems to make sense in Mandarin
I'm a Chinese. I hope this will help you:
请洗洗你的袜子 is an imperative sentence.
洗洗 (the same meaning of 洗一洗/洗一下) is a united verb. It's meaning is "wash". The same of “洗”
But, this wash (洗洗/洗一洗/洗一下) means "Hey, I need you to wash the socks." And “请洗你的袜子” is an ungrammatical sentence. Because 洗 always means "Okay, I'm washing them now." or "The socks are washed."
In addition, I would like to share you a little useful tip:
了/过 followed the verb means the event has been done and these two words can be combined. So “袜子已经洗过了” means "The socks have been already washed."
Sometimes we will say “快把袜子洗了”("Wash the socks quickly"). The 了 here have an implicit meaning of "the event will BE IN THE PAST". It's one of the forms of imperative sentence also.
有什么不懂的可以回复，我会尽量解答（If you have doubt about that, just comment below. I will help you as I can.）
祝你汉语学得愉快！
