Learn Spanish (Spain): Esta semana el abuelo ha hecho mucho esfuerzo y le duelen los huesos. - This week the grandfather has made a lot of effort and his bones hurt.

In Spain, when talking about a time period that is not over yet, like esta semana (this week) or hoy (today), we use the present perfect tense (ha hecho). If the sentence was about last week (la semana pasada), you would use the simple past tense (hizo).

I know ha comes from haber, but what verb is hecho?

Hecho is the irregular past participle of hacer (to do/make). You combine it with haber to say someone 'has done' or 'has made' something.

Why does the verb say duelen (plural) if the grandfather is just one person?

The verb doler (to hurt) works exactly like gustar. The things causing the pain are actually the subject of the sentence. Because los huesos (the bones) is plural, the verb must also be plural (duelen).

What is the word le doing in le duelen?

Le is an indirect object pronoun meaning 'to him'. Instead of saying 'his bones hurt', Spanish phrases it as 'the bones cause pain to him'.

Why do we say los huesos (the bones) instead of sus huesos (his bones)?