Breakdown of Me duele el hombro derecho cuando levanto el brazo.
Questions & Answers about Me duele el hombro derecho cuando levanto el brazo.
The grammatical subject is el hombro (derecho), not me.
- doler works like gustar:
- Me duele el hombro. = The shoulder hurts me / My shoulder hurts.
- Me gusta el libro. = The book pleases me / I like the book.
So:
- duele is 3rd person singular because it agrees with el hombro.
- me is an indirect object pronoun meaning “to me”.
Literally: El hombro (derecho) duele a mí. → The (right) shoulder is painful to me.
With plural things, doler becomes duelen:
- Me duele el hombro. – My shoulder hurts.
- Me duelen los hombros. – My shoulders hurt.
- Me duele el hombro y el cuello. – My shoulder and neck hurt.
- Me duelen el hombro y el cuello. – My shoulder and neck hurt. (also possible: plural verb because the logical subject is plural)
So the verb agrees in number with what is painful, not with the person who feels the pain.
me is an indirect object pronoun meaning “to me”.
You change it like this:
- Me duele el hombro. – My shoulder hurts. (to me)
- Te duele el hombro. – Your shoulder hurts. (to you, informal)
- Le duele el hombro. – His / her / your (formal) shoulder hurts.
- Nos duele el hombro. – Our shoulder hurts. (e.g. after exercise)
- Os duele el hombro. – Your shoulder hurts. (you all, informal in Spain)
- Les duele el hombro. – Their / your (plural, formal) shoulder hurts.
The structure is always:
[indirect object pronoun] + duele/duelen + [what hurts]
With body parts (and clothes), Spanish normally uses the definite article (el, la, los, las) instead of a possessive when the owner is already obvious from a pronoun or context.
Here, me already shows whose shoulder it is:
- Me duele el hombro. – literally The shoulder hurts me → My shoulder hurts.
Using mi is usually unnecessary and less natural here:
- Me duele mi hombro. – grammatically possible, but sounds emphatic, contrastive, or a bit odd in many contexts.
General pattern:
- Me lavé las manos. – I washed my hands.
- Se quitó el abrigo. – He/She took off his/her coat.
So: article + body part, not mi / tu / su + body part, when there’s already a pronoun like me, te, se, nos, os.
You can, but it usually sounds unnatural or overly emphatic in everyday speech.
- Me duele el hombro derecho. – Normal, idiomatic.
- Me duele mi hombro derecho. – Feels like you’re stressing my as opposed to someone else’s, or sounds like learner Spanish.
You might choose mi if you’re contrasting:
- No es el tuyo, es que me duele mi hombro derecho.
It’s not yours; it’s that my right shoulder hurts.
But in a normal doctor’s visit, you’d just say:
Me duele el hombro derecho.
In Spanish, most adjectives (including derecho/derecha meaning right as in right-hand side) normally go after the noun:
- hombro derecho – right shoulder
- mano derecha – right hand
- ojo izquierdo – left eye
Putting the adjective before the noun is usually for different adjectives (e.g. buen, gran, pobre, etc.) or to give a special nuance. With body sides (izquierdo/derecho), the normal order is noun + adjective.
Because the adjective derecho/derecha agrees in gender with the noun it modifies:
- el hombro → masculine → el hombro derecho
- la mano → feminine → la mano derecha
- la pierna → la pierna derecha
- el ojo → el ojo derecho
So:
- hombro derecho (masc.)
- mano derecha (fem.)
Yes, derecho has several meanings; context decides:
Right-hand side (opposite of izquierdo, left):
- el hombro derecho – the right shoulder
- giro a la derecha – turn right
Straight / directly:
- Sigue todo derecho. – Go straight ahead.
Law / (legal) right (as a noun):
- Estudia Derecho. – He/She studies Law.
- Tienes derecho a guardar silencio. – You have the right to remain silent.
In el hombro derecho, it clearly means right-hand side.
Same reason as with el hombro: Spanish normally uses the article with body parts when it’s clear whose body we’re talking about.
Because me duele already places us in my body, el brazo will be understood as my arm:
- Me duele el hombro derecho cuando levanto el brazo.
= My right shoulder hurts when I lift my arm.
Cuando levanto mi brazo is grammatically fine but would only be used if you really needed to contrast it with someone else’s arm, which is rare.
They’re very close in meaning; both are natural.
- Me duele el hombro derecho cuando levanto el brazo.
Literally: My right shoulder hurts when I lift my arm. - Me duele el hombro derecho al levantar el brazo.
Literally: My right shoulder hurts on lifting my arm / when lifting my arm.
Nuance:
- cuando + verb is more straightforwardly a time clause.
- al + infinitive is a bit more compact and slightly more formal/neutral in a medical description.
In practice, for a learner, you can treat them as interchangeable here.
Yes. Spanish present simple often expresses:
- general truths / habits / repeated situations, not just what’s happening right now.
Here, cuando levanto el brazo means “whenever / every time I lift my arm”, not just this exact moment.
To talk about the past, you’d change the verb:
- Me dolía el hombro derecho cuando levantaba el brazo.
My right shoulder hurt whenever I lifted my arm. (habitual in the past) - Me dolió el hombro derecho cuando levanté el brazo.
My right shoulder hurt when I lifted my arm (one specific time).
You can, but the usual, most natural order is:
- Me duele el hombro derecho.
Changing the order shifts the focus:
- Mi hombro derecho me duele.
Sounds like you’re emphasizing mi hombro derecho (maybe contrasting with another place that doesn’t hurt).
Spanish word order is flexible, but the neutral, everyday pattern with doler is:
[Indirect object pronoun] + duele/duelen + [thing that hurts]
Yes, there are a few natural options; levantar is just the most common and neutral.
- alzar el brazo – to raise the arm (a bit more formal/literary, but still used)
- subir el brazo – to raise/lift the arm (also used, but levantar is more standard here)
All would be understood. The most typical in this medical-type sentence is:
- Me duele el hombro derecho cuando levanto el brazo.