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¿A usted le duele la cabeza?

¿A usted le duele la cabeza?
Does your head hurt?
From Lesson 49:Verbs like gustar (encantar, doler)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about ¿A usted le duele la cabeza?

Why does it say la cabeza (the head) instead of su cabeza (your head)?
In Spanish, when talking about body parts, you usually use the definite article (like el or la) instead of a possessive word (like mi or su). Because the sentence already includes le (to you), it is already obvious whose head is hurting.
Why does the verb match la cabeza instead of usted?
Doler (to hurt) functions just like gustar. The Spanish phrasing literally translates to "The head is painful to you." Since the thing causing the pain is singular (la cabeza), we use the singular verb form duele.
Why do we use both a usted and le?
The pronoun le is required here to show who is experiencing the pain. However, le can mean "to him," "to her," or "to you (formal)." Adding a usted at the beginning clarifies that the speaker means "to you."
Why is the verb duele when the dictionary word is doler?
Doler is a stem-changing verb. The o in the middle changes to ue when we conjugate it for this sentence, giving us duele. If multiple things hurt, like your feet, it would change to the plural form duelen (for example, le duelen los pies).

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