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Tenho dor de ouvidos.

Tenho dor de ouvidos.
I have an earache.
From Lesson 110:A cara e o cabelo·Portuguese (Portugal)

Questions & Answers about Tenho dor de ouvidos.

Why is ouvidos plural when the English translation says "an earache" (singular)?
In Portuguese, the standard way to say you have an earache is dor de ouvidos (literally "pain of ears"). You use the plural form even if only one ear actually hurts, because it describes the general type of condition rather than pointing out a specific ear.
I learned that "ear" is orelha. Why does this sentence use ouvidos?
Portuguese has two words for ear. Orelha refers to the visible outer ear, while ouvido refers to the inner ear and the internal sense of hearing. Since an earache happens on the inside, it is always a dor de ouvidos.
Why does this use de (of) instead of saying the pain is "in the" ears?
To name common ailments, Portuguese uses dor de followed by the body part, without any word for "the" (such as dor de cabeça for headache). If you wanted to point to a specific sudden pain, you could say uma dor no ouvido (a pain in the ear), but the general medical condition uses de.
Why is there no word for "an" before dor?
When describing general symptoms or physical states with the verb ter (to have), Portuguese usually drops the article. So instead of saying "I have an earache", you simply say Tenho dor de ouvidos (literally "I have ear pain").

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