Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching German grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Der Finger tut weh.
Why is the word "tut" (does) used here? Doesn't German have a specific verb for "to hurt"?
German uses the separable verb wehtun to say that something hurts. It literally translates to "to do pain". While there is another verb for "to hurt" (schmerzen), wehtun is much more common in everyday spoken German.
Why is weh at the very end of the sentence?
Because wehtun is a separable verb. When you use it in a normal present tense sentence, the core verb tun takes the second position as tut, and the prefix weh gets kicked to the very end of the sentence.
In English, we usually say "My finger hurts", but this says "The finger". Can I say "Mein Finger tut weh"?
Yes, you can absolutely say Mein Finger tut weh. However, German often uses the definite article (der, die, das) instead of words like "my" or "your" when talking about body parts, especially if it is obvious whose body part it is from the context.
What if multiple fingers hurt? How do I make this plural?
The plural of der Finger is exactly the same: die Finger. You just need to change the article to die and the verb to the plural form tun. So "The fingers hurt" becomes Die Finger tun weh.