Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): El ruido constante empeora mi dolor de cabeza.

in front of adjectives/adverbs to make abstract nouns:
- lo bueno = the good (thing/part)
- lo importante = the important thing
in a few fixed expressions.

Because ruido is a regular, countable masculine noun (“noise”), you must use the normal masculine singular definite article el:

✅ el ruido constante = the constant noise
❌ lo ruido constante (incorrect)

Why is the adjective after the noun (ruido constante) and not before (constante ruido)?

Default Spanish word order is noun + adjective:

ruido constante = literally “noise constant”

Putting the adjective before the noun is possible but:

sounds more literary, poetic, or emphatic
can slightly change the nuance (often making it more subjective or emotional)

So:

✅ el ruido constante – neutral, standard Spanish
✅ el constante ruido – more stylistic, you’d see this in literature, speeches, or if you want to emphasize how constant it is.

For everyday speech, el ruido constante is the most natural.

Why is it constante and not constanto to agree with ruido?

Adjectives in Spanish have different patterns:

Many end in -o:
- ruido fuerte (masc.) / música fuerte (fem.) – this one doesn’t change either
- but: cansado / cansada, alto / alta
Some end in -e or a consonant and usually do not change for gender, only for number:
- constante:
  - singular: ruido constante, música constante
  - plural: ruidos constantes, músicas constantes

So constante is the correct form for both masculine and feminine singular; you don’t say constanto.

What does empeora literally mean, and why not say something like hace peor?

Empeorar is a verb meaning “to get worse” or “to make worse”:

empeora = it makes worse / it worsens

In the sentence:

El ruido constante empeora mi dolor de cabeza.
→ “The constant noise makes my headache worse / worsens my headache.”

You can say hacer algo peor (“make something worse”), but in Spanish it’s much more natural and shorter to use empeorar:

✅ El ruido constante empeora mi dolor de cabeza.
Possible but more wordy:
- El ruido constante hace mi dolor de cabeza peor. (grammatically possible but sounds clumsy to natives)

Natives almost always choose empeorar here.

Why is empeora in the third person singular form?

The verb must agree with the subject:

Subject: el ruido constante → he / she / it form
Verb: empeora = present tense, 3rd person singular of empeorar

Conjugation (present indicative of empeorar):

(yo) empeoro – I make worse / I get worse
(tú) empeoras – you make worse
(él / ella / usted) empeora – he/she/it makes worse
(nosotros) empeoramos
(vosotros) empeoráis (used in Spain)
(ellos / ellas / ustedes) empeoran

So el ruido constante empeora… is “the constant noise makes … worse.”

Why is it mi dolor de cabeza and not mi dolor de la cabeza?

Dolor de cabeza is a fixed expression meaning “headache”. It works like a unit:

un dolor de cabeza = a headache
tengo dolor de cabeza = I have a headache

Inside that expression you don’t normally put la:

✅ dolor de cabeza
❌ dolor de la cabeza (sounds strange here)

So when you add mi, you still keep the set phrase:

✅ mi dolor de cabeza = my headache

Could I also say me duele la cabeza instead of mi dolor de cabeza?

Yes, but it changes the structure:

Me duele la cabeza.
→ literally “The head hurts me” = I have a headache / my head hurts.
El ruido constante empeora mi dolor de cabeza.
→ “The constant noise makes my headache worse.”

To express the effect on the pain, the “dolor” structure fits better:

✅ El ruido constante empeora mi dolor de cabeza.
A natural alternative:
- El ruido constante hace que me duela más la cabeza.
  (“The constant noise makes my head hurt more.”)

Why is it dolor de cabeza and not something like dolor a la cabeza?

In Spanish, a very common pattern is noun + de + noun to show what something is of/about:

dolor de espalda – back pain
dolor de estómago – stomachache
dolor de muelas – toothache
dolor de cabeza – headache

The preposition de is used here to indicate the part of the body related to the pain.
Using a (dolor a la cabeza) is not idiomatic and sounds wrong in this context.

Could I say el dolor de cabeza instead of mi dolor de cabeza?

Yes, but the meaning shifts slightly:

mi dolor de cabeza = my headache
el dolor de cabeza = the headache (more general, or one already mentioned)

In practice:

El ruido constante empeora mi dolor de cabeza.
→ The speaker is focusing on their own headache.
El ruido constante empeora el dolor de cabeza.
→ Could refer to a specific headache already known in the conversation,
or to headaches in general (e.g., in a medical context).

Both are grammatically correct; mi just personalizes it more.

What’s the difference between ruido and sonido?

Both relate to “sound,” but they’re used differently:

ruido = noise, usually unpleasant / unwanted sound
- Hay mucho ruido en la calle. – There’s a lot of noise in the street.
sonido = sound in a more neutral or technical sense
- el sonido de la guitarra – the sound of the guitar
- la calidad del sonido – sound quality

In this sentence, ruido constante is correct because we’re talking about an annoying sound that worsens a headache.

How do you pronounce ruido and empeora, especially the r sounds?

Approximate pronunciation (Spain):

ruido → [ˈrwi.ðo]
- r: a single tap of the tongue (like a very quick American “d” in “ladder”)
- ui: like “wee” in English
- d between vowels becomes soft, almost like “th” in “this”.
empeora → [em.peˈo.ɾa]
- stress on -o-: em-pe-O-ra
- final r in -ra is also a single tap [ɾ], not a rolled rr.

Key point: in this sentence all r sounds are the single tap [ɾ], not the strong rolled rr.

Is empeorar reflexive (like empeorarse) or non‑reflexive here? Does it change the meaning?

In the sentence:

El ruido constante empeora mi dolor de cabeza.
→ empeorar is used non‑reflexively: something makes something else worse.

Basic pattern:

X empeora Y = X makes Y worse / worsens Y.

When you see empeorarse, it usually means “to get worse (by itself)”:

Mi dolor de cabeza se empeora por las tardes.
(More natural: Mi dolor de cabeza empeora por las tardes.)
→ My headache gets worse in the afternoons.

Both forms exist, but with a direct object like mi dolor de cabeza, the non‑reflexive empeora is the most natural choice here.