Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Si ceno muy tarde, a veces me duele el estómago por la noche. - If I have dinner very late, sometimes my stomach hurts at night.

This sentence talks about a general habit: whenever I eat late, this tends to happen. Spanish uses the present tense in both clauses for this kind of habitual situation, where English uses present + present or present + future:

Spanish: Si ceno tarde, me duele el estómago.
English: If I eat dinner late, my stomach sometimes hurts / will hurt.

Using cenaré would sound wrong here in standard Spanish.

Why is it “ceno” and not “como” for “have dinner”?

Spanish has specific verbs for the main meals:

desayunar – to have breakfast
comer – to have lunch (in Spain, usually the main midday meal)
cenar – to have dinner / supper

In Spain, comer usually refers to eating at midday, and cenar is for the evening meal. So:

Ceno muy tarde = I have dinner very late.
Como muy tarde would normally be understood as I have lunch very late (in Spain).

In many contexts in Latin America, comer can be more general (“to eat a meal”), but cenar is still the normal verb for dinner.

Why is the subject pronoun “yo” omitted in “Si ceno muy tarde”?

In Spanish, subject pronouns (yo, tú, él, nosotros etc.) are often omitted because the verb ending shows who the subject is:

ceno → only possible subject is yo (I)
cenamos → we
cenas → you (singular, informal)

So:

Si *yo ceno muy tarde… is grammatically correct, but *yo is not necessary.
Si ceno muy tarde… is the natural, neutral version.

You would only add yo for emphasis or contrast, e.g. Yo ceno muy tarde, pero mis padres cenan temprano.

Why is it “me duele el estómago” and not “mi estómago duele”?

Both are technically possible, but they’re not equally natural.

“Me duele el estómago” is the standard, everyday way to say my stomach hurts.
“Mi estómago duele” sounds unusual, a bit literal, and not how people normally talk.

Doler works like gustar: the body part is grammatically the subject, and the person is an indirect object:

Me duele el estómago.
- Literally: The stomach hurts *to me.*
- Natural English: My stomach hurts.

So:

Me duele la cabeza. → My head hurts.
Me duele la espalda. → My back hurts.

The pattern indirect object pronoun + duele/duelen + noun is the normal structure for physical pain.

What exactly does the “me” in “me duele” do? Is it reflexive?

The me here is an indirect object pronoun, not a reflexive pronoun in the strict grammatical sense.

Indirect object: indicates to whom or for whom something happens.
In me duele el estómago, the idea is “the stomach causes pain to me.”

Compare:

Me duele el estómago. → The stomach hurts me.
Te duele el estómago. → Your stomach hurts (it hurts you).
Le duele el estómago. → His/her stomach hurts (it hurts him/her).

So me is marking the experiencer of the pain, not reflecting the action back on the same subject (which would be a reflexive scenario).

Why is it “el estómago” and not “mi estómago”?

In Spanish, when referring to parts of your own body (or clothes on you), the usual pattern is:

Indirect object pronoun + verb + definite article + body part

Instead of using a possessive adjective (mi, tu, su), Spanish prefers the definite article (el, la, los, las). So:

Me duele *la cabeza.* → My head hurts.
Me he roto *el brazo.* → I’ve broken my arm.
Me lavo *las manos.* → I wash my hands.

Mi estómago duele is not wrong grammatically, but it sounds unnatural.
Me duele el estómago is the standard idiomatic way to say it.

Why is it “a veces me duele el estómago” and not “me duele a veces el estómago” or “me duele el estómago a veces”?

All of these word orders are possible, but some are more natural:

Most neutral here:
- Si ceno muy tarde, *a veces me duele el estómago por la noche.*
Also common:
- Si ceno muy tarde, *me duele el estómago a veces por la noche.*
- Si ceno muy tarde, *a veces por la noche me duele el estómago.*

You generally place a veces (sometimes) near the part of the sentence you want to qualify. Putting it right after the comma gives it a nice, clear rhythm.

“Me duele a veces el estómago” is understood but sounds a bit less smooth and is less common in conversation. The original order is the most natural-sounding.

Can I move “por la noche” to another part of the sentence?

Yes, Spanish word order is fairly flexible. All of these are grammatically correct, with small differences in emphasis:

Si ceno muy tarde, a veces me duele el estómago por la noche.
Si ceno muy tarde, *por la noche a veces me duele el estómago.*
Por la noche, si ceno muy tarde, a veces me duele el estómago.

Usually, time expressions like por la noche go at the end or at the beginning of the clause. The original sentence is a natural choice; the others just shift the focus or rhythm slightly.

What’s the difference between “por la noche”, “en la noche”, and “de noche”?

In Spain:

por la noche – very common; means at night / in the evenings in a broad sense.
- Suelo estudiar por la noche. → I usually study at night.
de noche – also common; stresses the night-time condition more than the time slot.
- Conduzco peor de noche. → I drive worse at night (when it’s dark).
en la noche – much less common in Spain for this meaning; sounds more literary or is used in certain fixed expressions, or is more typical in parts of Latin America.

In your sentence, “por la noche” is the most natural and common choice in Peninsular Spanish.

Why is it “muy tarde” and not “demasiado tarde”?

Both are correct, but they don’t say exactly the same thing:

muy tarde = very late (just describes the time)
- Ceno muy tarde. → I eat dinner very late. (late, but not necessarily “too late”)
demasiado tarde = too late (implies it’s excessively late, more than it should be)
- Ceno demasiado tarde y luego no duermo bien. → I eat too late, and then I don’t sleep well.

In your sentence, muy tarde describes a habit without explicitly judging it as “too much”; the consequence (me duele el estómago) already suggests it’s not ideal. You could say demasiado tarde if you want to emphasize that the time really is too late.

How does “doler” work with singular vs. plural body parts?

Doler agrees with the thing that hurts:

Singular noun → duele
- Me duele *el estómago.* → My stomach hurts.
- Me duele *la cabeza.* → My head hurts.
Plural noun → duelen
- Me duelen *las piernas.* → My legs hurt.
- Me duelen *los ojos.* → My eyes hurt.

The indirect object pronoun (me, te, le, nos, os, les) shows who is in pain; duele/duelen agree with what is painful.

Why is the tense present (“ceno” / “me duele”) if I’m describing a general tendency?

Spanish uses the present indicative to express general truths, habits, and tendencies:

Si estudio, apruebo. → If I study, I pass.
Si bebo café por la tarde, duermo mal. → If I drink coffee in the afternoon, I sleep badly.

Your sentence fits this pattern:

Si ceno muy tarde, a veces me duele el estómago por la noche.
→ Whenever I have dinner very late, sometimes my stomach hurts at night.

English also uses present for general truths (“If I eat late, my stomach hurts”), so here Spanish and English match fairly well.

Could I use another structure like “tengo dolor de estómago” instead of “me duele el estómago”?

Yes, but there’s a difference in frequency and nuance:

Me duele el estómago.
- Very common, everyday way to say My stomach hurts.
Tengo dolor de estómago.
- Also correct, but sounds a bit more formal or clinical; often used in medical contexts or more careful speech.

So:

For normal conversation, me duele el estómago is the go‑to form.
Tengo dolor de estómago is fine, just slightly more “medical” in tone.