Learn Spanish (Spain): Nuestro padre tiene un fuerte dolor de estómago.

Nuestro padre tiene un fuerte dolor de estómago.

Our father has a bad stomach ache.

Breakdown of Nuestro padre tiene un fuerte dolor de estómago.

Questions & Answers about Nuestro padre tiene un fuerte dolor de estómago.

Why does it say nuestro padre (our father) if "our" refers to multiple people?

In Spanish, possessive words like nuestro (our) must match the thing being owned, not the people who own it. Since there is only one father (padre), which is a masculine singular noun, we use the singular masculine form nuestro. If it were "our parents", it would be nuestros padres.

Doesn't fuerte usually mean "strong"?

Yes! Translated word-for-word, the sentence says "a strong stomach pain." In English, we naturally say a "bad" or "severe" stomach ache, but Spanish uses fuerte to describe an intense physical pain.

I thought adjectives usually go after the noun in Spanish. Why is fuerte before dolor?

You are right that adjectives usually go after the noun (like un gato negro for "a black cat"). However, adjectives that describe the intensity of something can sometimes go before the noun for emphasis. Saying un fuerte dolor really highlights how bad the pain is.

Why does Spanish use de in dolor de estómago?

In English, we can put two nouns together to make a new concept, like "stomach ache" or "apple juice". Spanish doesn't do this. Instead, it uses de (of) to connect them, literally saying "pain of stomach".