Body parts in French: le, la and avoir mal à
Vocalyra teaching team · Last updated:
French names for body parts come with a grammar gift: French uses the definite article where English uses my. You say je me lave les mains, literally I wash myself the hands, and j'ai mal à la tête for a headache.
The essential words
Learn each word with its article: la tête, le cou, le dos, le bras, la main, le doigt, la jambe, le pied, le genou, l'épaule (feminine), le ventre, le cœur, la bouche, le nez, les yeux (singular l'œil), les oreilles, les dents. Several of these words have unexpected genders, so the article matters.
The article, not my
With body parts, French normally avoids mon and ma when the owner is obvious: lève la main (raise your hand), il s'est cassé la jambe (he broke his leg). English my arm hurts becomes j'ai mal au bras. Possessives appear only to remove ambiguity: ses cheveux sont longs if several people are in the picture.
| French | English | Gender |
|---|---|---|
| la tête | head | feminine |
| le bras | arm | masculine |
| la main | hand | feminine |
| le dos | back | masculine |
| la jambe | leg | feminine |
| le pied | foot | masculine |
| l'épaule | shoulder | feminine |
| le ventre | stomach | masculine |
Saying something hurts
The pattern is avoir mal à plus the body part: j'ai mal à la tête (headache), j'ai mal au dos (backache), j'ai mal aux dents (toothache). Watch the contractions: à plus le becomes au, à plus les becomes aux. At the doctor you can also say ça fait mal ici, it hurts here, pointing at the spot.
A few body words are famously tricky. Le pied is the foot but un pied is also a unit of measurement. La langue is both tongue and language. Les cheveux (hair) is almost always plural in French, so you say les cheveux longs, and a single hair is un cheveu. Le bras and le genou keep their final letters silent. At the pharmacy, avoir mal au cœur means feeling sick to your stomach, not heart pain; for the heart itself you would say j'ai une douleur au cœur. Learning the words in these ready-made phrases makes both the gender and the idiom stick.
Quick self-check
Choose: J'ai mal (au / à le) ventre.
Show answer
au
Choose: Elle s'est cassé (sa / la) jambe.
Show answer
la
Choose: J'ai mal (aux / à les) pieds après la marche.
Show answer
aux
Choose: Lève (ta / la) main si tu sais la réponse.
Show answer
la