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J'ai mal au bras depuis hier.

J'ai mal au bras depuis hier.
My arm has hurt since yesterday.
From Lesson 213:The body and appearance·French

Questions & Answers about J'ai mal au bras depuis hier.

Why does the French sentence use the present tense (J'ai) when the English translation uses the present perfect ("has hurt")?
In French, when an action started in the past and is still continuing in the present, you use the present tense with depuis (since/for). Because your arm still hurts right now, you say J'ai mal instead of a past tense.
The English translation says "My arm", but there is no mon (my) in the French sentence. Why?
In French, you usually do not use possessive adjectives like mon or ton with body parts when it is obvious whose body part it is. Instead, you use the definite article (le, la, les). The structure avoir mal à makes it clear that it is your own arm hurting.
Why is it au bras instead of à le bras?
The preposition à always contracts with the masculine article le to become au. Because bras (arm) is masculine, à + le bras becomes au bras. If it were a feminine body part like tête (head), it would not contract: à la tête.
Is avoir mal à the only way to say that a body part hurts?
Avoir mal à (literally "to have bad at") is the most common way. You can also use the verb faire mal (to cause pain), as in Mon bras me fait mal (My arm is hurting me). Both are perfectly correct to use, but J'ai mal au bras is the standard, everyday expression.

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