📖LearnModule 7 · Lesson 8 of 30Independent User · CEFR B1, completedUnit 2 · La salud y el cuerpo
Me duele la cabeza — aches and pains
Module 7 of the free Spanish course (CEFR B1, completed), lesson 8 of 30: One verb covers every ache in the language. On this page: 9 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's QR.
The words
Spanish
English
Say it
me duele la cabeza
I have a headache
meh DWEH-leh lah kah-BEH-sah
me duele la espalda
I have a backache
meh DWEH-leh lah ehs-PAHL-dah
me duelen los pies
my feet hurt
meh DWEH-lehn lohs pyehs
doler
to hurt
doh-LEHR
el hombro
the shoulder
ehl OHM-broh
la rodilla
the knee
lah rroh-DEE-yah
la garganta
the throat
lah gar-GAHN-tah
la herida
the wound
lah eh-REE-dah
tener dolor de
to have a pain in
teh-NEHR doh-LOHR deh
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.
La regla · The rule
One verb covers every ache in the language, and it works like gustar: me duele la cabeza (my head hurts — literally the head hurts to me), me duelen los pies (my feet hurt). The body part is the subject, so the verb agrees with IT: duele for one, duelen for several.
Y también · And also
Spanish uses the article, not my: me duele LA espalda, never me duele mi espalda — the me already says whose back it is. The noun version is tener dolor de: tengo dolor de garganta, I have a sore throat.
Ojo · Watch out
doler agrees with the body part: me duele la cabeza (one), me duelen los pies (several). And the body part takes the article, never a possessive: me duele la espalda, not mi espalda.
Do it now — on paper
Say all 9 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with me duele la cabeza.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
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 Spanish 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.