📖LearnModule 7 · Lesson 8 of 30Independent User · CEFR B1, completedUnit 2 · La santé et le corps
J'ai mal partout
Module 7 of the free French course (CEFR B1, completed), lesson 8 of 30: One phrase covers every ache in the language: avoir mal à. On this page: 8 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's lesson 8.
The words
French
English
Say it
j'ai mal à la tête
I have a headache
zhay mahl ah lah TEHT
j'ai mal au dos
I have a backache
zhay mahl oh DOH
j'ai mal aux dents
I have a toothache
zhay mahl oh DAH(n)
ça fait mal
it hurts
sah feh MAHL
l'épaulefeminine — the article elides to l'
the shoulder
lay-POHL
le genou
the knee
luh zhuh-NOO
la gorge
the throat
lah GORZH
la blessure
the injury
lah bleh-SEWR
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
Hear the words
Each word is read twice — say it back in the gap. Computer-generated voice; credits on the course page.
La règle · The rule
One phrase covers every ache in the language: avoir mal à. J'ai mal à la tête (headache), j'ai mal au dos (backache), j'ai mal aux dents (toothache). The à changes shape with the article, exactly as it always has.
Et aussi · And also
Two more you will need: je me suis fait mal (I hurt myself) and ça fait mal (it hurts). French puts the pain on the body part, never on you.
Attention · Watch out
avoir mal à: à + le fuses to au (j'ai mal au dos), à + les to aux (j'ai mal aux dents). The pain sits on the body part, never on you.
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with j'ai mal à la tête.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write two sentences of your own that get the watch-out line right, then the two practice pages of workbook lesson 8 in Module 7 are the written half of this page.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The French Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.