Quick answer
Me duele la cabeza desde el lunes y tengo fiebre.
My head has been hurting since Monday and I have a temperature. Doler does not work like "hurt" — the body part is the subject.
The words of this lesson
Three sentences get you through the door
You walk into a centro de salud and say quería pedir cita, me encuentro mal. In the room the doctor asks ¿qué le pasa? and your whole answer is built from three pieces: what hurts, since when, and anything else you have.
What hurts: me duele la garganta. Since when: desde el lunes or desde hace tres días. Anything else: y tengo fiebre. Put them together and you have me duele la garganta desde el lunes y tengo fiebre — that is a complete, clear consultation opener.
Doler is built backwards
In English you are the subject: "I hurt my back". In Spanish the body part is the subject and you are the person it happens to: me duele la espalda — literally "the back hurts to me". So the verb agrees with the body part, not with you. One thing hurts: me duele la cabeza. Several hurt: me duelen las piernas, me duelen los oídos.
The pronoun changes for other people: le duele el estómago (his stomach hurts), ¿te duele aquí? (does it hurt here?). And the body part takes el or la, never mi — the me has already said whose it is.
Grading it and getting a prescription
The doctor will want a degree. Me duele un poco, me duele bastante, me duele muchísimo. Other symptoms mostly ride on tener: tengo tos, tengo náuseas, tengo alergia al polen. For a general "I feel awful", use me encuentro mal or estoy mareado (dizzy).
At the end you may hear le voy a dar una receta (a prescription) and tómelo cada ocho horas. Useful to have ready: soy alérgico a la penicilina and ¿es con receta? at the pharmacy.
Where you are matters
Spain says <span class="es-inline">pedir cita</span> at a <span class="es-inline">centro de salud</span>; Mexico says <span class="es-inline">hacer una cita</span> and Argentina <span class="es-inline">sacar un turno</span>. A cold is <span class="es-inline">un resfriado</span> in Spain and <span class="es-inline">un resfrío</span> in the Southern Cone.
Memory trick
Doler agrees with the body part, not with you: me duele la cabeza, me duelen las piernas.
A short dialogue
Typical mistakes
Duelo mi cabeza.
Me duele la cabeza.
You are not the subject of doler. The body part is, and it takes el or la because me already says it is yours.
Me duele los pies.
Me duelen los pies.
A plural body part makes the verb plural: duelen.
Estoy fiebre.
Tengo fiebre.
A temperature is something you have, not something you are. Fever, cough and nausea all take tener.
Practice
Practise these at the doctor
0/8 matched — tap a Spanish word, then its translation
Check yourself
Which sentence says "My legs hurt"?