Learn Hardcore Greek: Η μέση μου πονάει πολύ σήμερα.

Η μέση μου πονάει ≈ My lower back hurts / I have lower back pain.
For the upper back, Greeks more often use η πλάτη (back):
- Με πονάει η πλάτη μου = My (upper) back hurts.

In many everyday contexts, if a Greek person says η μέση μου πονάει, they mean the sort of back pain you’d associate with the lumbar area or waist region.

Why do we need the article η before μέση? Why not just Μέση μου πονάει πολύ σήμερα?

In Greek, you normally must use the definite article with body parts, especially when they are possessed:

Η μέση μου = my waist / my lower back
(literally: the waist my)

Leaving out the article (*Μέση μου πονάει) is ungrammatical in standard Greek.

So you get:

Η μέση μου πονάει. ✅
Μέση μου πονάει. ❌

The article is part of how possession is expressed when you use the little pronouns like μου, σου, του, etc.

Why is it η μέση μου, not η μου μέση like “my waist” in English?

Greek uses a clitic possessive pronoun (a short unstressed form) after the noun:

η μέση μου = my waist / my lower back
το σπίτι μου = my house
το βιβλίο σου = your book

You only put a possessive word before the noun when you use a stressed form like δικός/δική/δικό:

η δική μου μέση = my waist (as opposed to someone else’s)

So:

Neutral, normal: η μέση μου
Emphatic contrast: η δική μου μέση, όχι η δική σου
(my waist, not yours)

What is the subject of the sentence? Is it “I” or “my waist”?

The subject is η μέση μου (my waist / my lower back), not “I”.

Breakdown:

η μέση μου = subject (3rd person singular)
πονάει = verb, 3rd person singular (hurts)
πολύ σήμερα = adverb (πολύ) + time word (σήμερα)

So it is literally:

“The waist my hurts a lot today.”

Greek can also say it in a way that looks more like an English structure with “me” as the experiencer:

Με πονάει η μέση μου.
Literally: It hurts me, my waist → My waist hurts (me).

Both Η μέση μου πονάει and Με πονάει η μέση μου are natural.

Why is it πονάει and not πονάω? How does this verb conjugate?

The infinitive-like base form is usually given as πονάω (to hurt / to be in pain).

Here, the subject is η μέση μου (3rd person singular), so we use the 3rd person singular form πονάει:

Present tense of πονάω (standard spoken form):

(εγώ) πονάω / πονώ = I hurt / I am in pain
(εσύ) πονάς = you (sg) hurt
(αυτός/αυτή/αυτό) πονάει / πονεί = he/she/it hurts
(εμείς) πονάμε = we hurt
(εσείς) πονάτε = you (pl/formal) hurt
(αυτοί/αυτές/αυτά) πονούν(ε) = they hurt

So:

Πονάω πολύ σήμερα. = I’m in a lot of pain today.
Η μέση μου πονάει πολύ σήμερα. = My (lower) back hurts a lot today.

Is there a difference between Η μέση μου πονάει and Με πονάει η μέση μου?

They are both very common and both mean My (lower) back hurts.

Nuance:

Η μέση μου πονάει.
Literally: My waist hurts.
Grammatically, η μέση μου is the subject; it is “doing” the hurting.
Με πονάει η μέση μου.
Literally: My waist hurts me.
Here με (me, accusative) is an object; η μέση μου is still the subject that “hurts”.

In practice:

Both are perfectly natural in speech.
Some speakers might feel Με πονάει η μέση μου focuses more on my experience of the pain, but the difference is subtle and often interchangeable.

Could I say something like Έχω πόνο στη μέση μου instead? Is that correct and natural?

Yes, it’s grammatically correct and understandable, but it’s less common than using πονάω.

Έχω πόνο στη μέση μου. = I have pain in my lower back.

More natural everyday options:

Πονάει η μέση μου.
Με πονάει η μέση μου.

Using έχω πόνο + body part sounds a bit more formal or medical, or like you’re describing a symptom rather than just complaining casually. For daily speech, πονάω constructions are preferred.

Why is πολύ after πονάει? Could I put it before the verb?

Πολύ is an adverb meaning a lot / very much, and in Greek it typically comes after the verb it modifies:

Πονάει πολύ. = It hurts a lot.
Κουράστηκα πολύ. = I got very tired / I’m exhausted.

Putting πολύ before the verb (πολύ πονάει η μέση μου) is not wrong, but it is:

either emphatic or
sounds a bit poetic or marked in everyday speech.

Natural, neutral order:

Η μέση μου πονάει πολύ σήμερα.

For extra emphasis, speakers often use πάρα πολύ:

Η μέση μου πονάει πάρα πολύ σήμερα. = My lower back really hurts a lot today.

Where can σήμερα go in the sentence? Is Η μέση μου πονάει πολύ σήμερα the only correct order?

Σήμερα (today) is quite flexible in position. All of these are grammatically correct:

Η μέση μου πονάει πολύ σήμερα.
Σήμερα η μέση μου πονάει πολύ.
Η μέση μου σήμερα πονάει πολύ.
Σήμερα με πονάει πολύ η μέση μου.

Differences are mainly in emphasis and rhythm:

Starting with Σήμερα emphasizes “today” as the timeframe:
- Σήμερα η μέση μου πονάει πολύ.
  Today (as opposed to other days), my lower back hurts a lot.

The version you gave, Η μέση μου πονάει πολύ σήμερα, is very natural and neutral.

What gender and case is η μέση here, and how does the noun decline?

In Η μέση μου πονάει πολύ σήμερα:

η μέση is feminine, singular, nominative (subject of the sentence).

Basic forms of η μέση (feminine noun):

Nominative sg.: η μέση (subject)
Genitive sg.: της μέσης
Accusative sg.: τη(ν) μέση
Vocative sg.: μέση (very rarely used as direct address)

Plural (rare in everyday use with this meaning, but grammatically):

Nominative: οι μέσες
Genitive: των μεσών
Accusative: τις μέσες

In “my lower back hurts”, we use nominative, because η μέση μου is the subject.

How do you pronounce the sentence?

Greek spelling:
Η μέση μου πονάει πολύ σήμερα.

Approximate transliteration:
I MÉ-si mu po-NÁ-i po-LÍ SÍ-me-ra.

IPA:
/ i ˈmesi mu poˈnai poˈli ˈsimera /

Syllable breakdown:

Η μέ-ση /ˈmesi/
μου /mu/
πο-νά-ει /poˈnai/
πο-λύ /poˈli/
σί-με-ρα /ˈsimera/

Note the stresses: μέση, πονάει, πολύ, σήμερα all have stress on the penultimate syllable in their full forms here.

Does Greek distinguish between “I hurt” and “something hurts me” with different verbs, like English does?

Greek mostly uses the same verb, πονάω, for both ideas:

I am in pain / I hurt (in general).
- Πονάω πολύ σήμερα. = I hurt a lot today / I’m in a lot of pain today.
My [body part] hurts.
- Η μέση μου πονάει. = My lower back hurts.
[Body part] hurts me (feeling it on me).
- Με πονάει η μέση μου. = My lower back hurts me.

English sometimes uses different verbs or structures (hurt, ache, have pain in), but Greek typically relies on πονάω plus different grammatical patterns, rather than switching verbs.