Mein Kopf tut weh.

my

Breakdown of Mein Kopf tut weh.

• der Kopf: the head
• weh tun: to hurt

Questions & Answers about Mein Kopf tut weh.

Why do you say tut weh and not something like ist weh for “hurts”?

In German, wehtun (separable: tut weh) is the standard way to say “to hurt (cause pain).”

• tun literally means “to do”.
• weh is an old adjective/adverb meaning “sore / painful”.
  Together: wehtun ≈ “to do pain”, i.e. “to hurt”.

Saying ist weh (“is sore”) would sound wrong in this context. You can say:

• Mein Kopf tut weh. – My head hurts.
• Mein Bein tut weh. – My leg hurts.

There is another verb:

• Mein Kopf schmerzt. – My head aches / hurts.

But tut weh is much more common in everyday speech than schmerzt.

What is the literal word‑for‑word translation of Mein Kopf tut weh?

Literally:

• Mein – my (possessive pronoun)
• Kopf – head
• tut – does (3rd person singular of tun, “to do”)
• weh – sore / painful

So a very literal translation is:
“My head does sore.” → idiomatic English: “My head hurts.”

Who/what is the subject in this sentence?

The subject is Mein Kopf (“my head”).

• Mein Kopf – subject (nominative case)
• tut – verb
• weh – separable part of the verb wehtun

So grammatically, the head is doing the action of “hurting.”
That’s why the verb is tut (3rd person singular), matching Kopf.

What exactly is weh? Is it an adjective, an adverb, or part of the verb?

Historically, weh is an adjective meaning “sore, painful.” You can still see it in:

• ein weher Fuß (archaic / poetic) – a sore foot
• Weh und Ach – woe and misery

In modern everyday German, with body-parts, weh is almost always used as part of the separable verb wehtun:

• Der Rücken tut mir weh. – My back hurts.
• Tut dir der Arm weh? – Does your arm hurt?

So for learners, it’s easiest to treat weh + tun together as one verb wehtun (“to hurt”), which splits in the present tense.

Can I also say Ich habe Kopfschmerzen instead of Mein Kopf tut weh? What’s the difference?

Yes, both are correct, but they differ slightly in style and nuance:

• Mein Kopf tut weh.
  
  • Very common, everyday, slightly more casual.
  • Literally: “My head hurts.”
• Ich habe Kopfschmerzen.
  
  • Sounds a bit more medical / neutral.
  • Literally: “I have head pains / a headache.”

In context:

• Talking to a friend: Mein Kopf tut weh.
• At the doctor’s: Ich habe seit gestern starke Kopfschmerzen.
  (“I’ve had a strong headache since yesterday.”)

Both are fine in most situations; Mein Kopf tut weh is a bit more colloquial.

Why is it Mein Kopf and not something like Mir Kopf?

Mein is a possessive word meaning my, and it puts Kopf into the nominative case as the subject:

• Mein Kopf tut weh. – My head hurts.

Mir is the dative form of ich (to me). You use mir in an alternative but very common pattern:

• Mir tut der Kopf weh. – Literally: “To me the head hurts.”

Both are correct:

• Mein Kopf tut weh.
• Mir tut der Kopf weh.

They mean essentially the same thing.
Mein Kopf… focuses a bit more on the head as the subject.
Mir tut der Kopf weh. focuses more on how I feel (“my head hurts me”).

Which version is more natural: Mein Kopf tut weh or Mir tut der Kopf weh?

Both are perfectly natural. You’ll hear both a lot.

• Mein Kopf tut weh.
  
  • Very straightforward, maybe slightly simpler for learners.
• Mir tut der Kopf weh.
  
  • Equally common; sounds very natural and idiomatic in German.

You can choose either. If you already know the dative pronouns, it’s worth using the mir version as well because it transfers easily to other body parts:

• Mir tun die Beine weh. – My legs hurt.
• Mir tut der Bauch weh. – My stomach hurts.

How do I say similar sentences with other body parts?

You can use the same pattern:

Singular body parts:

• Mein Bauch tut weh. – My stomach hurts.
• Mein Rücken tut weh. – My back hurts.
• Mein Zahn tut weh. – My tooth hurts.
• Mein Fuß tut weh. – My foot hurts.

Plural body parts (verb becomes tun):

• Meine Augen tun weh. – My eyes hurt.
• Meine Beine tun weh. – My legs hurt.
• Meine Zähne tun weh. – My teeth hurt.

Or with the dative pattern:

• Mir tut der Rücken weh.
• Mir tun die Augen weh.

How do you conjugate tun in this pattern?

Present tense of tun:

• ich tue – I do
• du tust – you do (singular, informal)
• er/sie/es tut – he/she/it does
• wir tun – we do
• ihr tut – you (plural, informal) do
• sie tun – they do
• Sie tun – you do (formal)

Examples with wehtun:

• Mein Kopf tut weh. – My head hurts.
• Dein Fuß tut weh. – Your foot hurts.
• Seine Knie tun weh. – His knees hurt.
• Eure Hände tun weh. – Your (pl.) hands hurt.

Is Mein Kopf tut weh formal or informal?

It’s neutral and perfectly fine in both informal and formal contexts.

• Talking to friends or family: completely normal.
• At the doctor’s or in a polite situation: also fine.

If you want to sound a bit more “clinical” at a doctor’s, you can add detail:

• Mein Kopf tut seit heute Morgen weh. – My head has been hurting since this morning.
• Ich habe starke Kopfschmerzen. – I have a strong headache.

Why is Kopf capitalized?

In German:

• All nouns are capitalized.

Kopf is a noun (head), so it is always written with a capital K: der Kopf.

Mein is capitalized here only because it’s the first word in the sentence.
If it appeared in the middle of a sentence, it would be lowercase:

• Ich glaube, mein Kopf tut weh. – I think my head hurts.