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Spanish Word of the Day Archive
Thursday May 29, 2008
doler, verb:
to hurt; to ache, to be sore
To say that something hurts in Spanish, you use a different structure from English. Rather than saying ‘my foot hurts’, you say, word for word, ‘the foot hurts to me’. Notice that the verb generally comes first, and then the bit of you that hurts. Ouch.
Me duele el pie.
My foot hurts, My foot is sore.
You will also notice that the letter -o- of the infinitive changes to -ue in the present tense.
Me duelen los pies.
My feet hurt, My feet are sore.
Doler is the verb you use when you want to talk about aches, such as headaches and toothache.
Me dolía la cabeza.
I had a headache.
Le duele el estómago.
She’s got stomachache.
Me duele una muela.
I’ve got a toothache.
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