Log inSign up

¿Te duele el dedo?

¿Te duele el dedo?
Does your finger hurt?
From Lesson 49:Verbs like gustar (encantar, doler)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about ¿Te duele el dedo?

Why is the verb duele instead of dueles if I am asking about you?
Because doler (to hurt) works like gustar. The person isn't the subject doing the action; the body part is. Literally, this sentence asks "Does the finger cause pain to you?". Since el dedo (the finger) is a single thing, we use the "it" form of the verb: duele. The te is what tells us who is feeling the pain.
Why does it say el dedo (the finger) instead of tu dedo (your finger)?
In Spanish, when talking about body parts, we usually use words like el or la (the) instead of possessive words like mi or tu (my/your). The pronoun te earlier in the sentence already makes it perfectly clear that it's your finger we are talking about.
Where does the "ue" in duele come from?
The infinitive (dictionary form) of the verb is doler (to hurt). It is a stem-changing verb, which means the o in the middle changes to ue when we conjugate it for most forms. That's why doler becomes duele.
How would I answer this question to say "Yes, my finger hurts"?
You would say, "Sí, me duele el dedo." Notice how the te (to you) simply changes to me (to me), while duele el dedo stays exactly the same because the finger is still the subject!

Learn ¿Te duele el dedo and more in Spanish

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning Spanish →