Health & Body
स्वास्थ्य और शरीर
Stating pain in German runs through the dative case: rather than 'having' pain like in English, you say the pain 'happens' to you while the body part itself 'does' the hurting — the same feel as Hindi's "मेरे सिर में दर्द है".
Grammar Comparison
व्याकरण तुलना
weh tun + dative: the pain 'happens' to you — the same feel as Hindi
Mir tut der Kopf weh. (My head hurts — literally 'to me the head does pain')
मेरा सिर दर्द कर रहा है। / मुझे सिर में दर्द है।
In Hindi's "मुझे सिर में दर्द है", 'मुझे' is also a dative-like form — the pain, tied to something else (सिर), 'happens' to you, you don't 'have' it. German runs on exactly this same logic: the person appears in the dative (mir) as the one something 'happens' to, while the body part (der Kopf) becomes the grammatical subject that 'does' the hurting. Word order is fixed: dative pronoun first, then tut, then the body part, then weh at the very end — Der Kopf tut mir weh is also correct, but Mir tut der Kopf weh is more common in speech.
Body parts take a definite article, not a possessive
Ich habe Kopfschmerzen. Mein Bein tut weh, wenn ich laufe.
मुझे सिरदर्द है। जब मैं चलता हूँ तो मेरे पैर में दर्द होता है।
When you use the dative + weh tun construction, the body part takes der/die/das instead of 'my' — the dative pronoun (mir) already establishes whose body part it is, so a possessive would be redundant, and is in fact grammatically wrong there. This is exactly the same pattern as reflexive dative verbs like sich die Hände waschen, which you've already learned.
Vocabulary
शब्दावली
| German | Pronunciation | Hindi | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| der Kopf | dair kopf | सिरsir | head |
| der Bauch | dair bowkh | पेटpeṭ | stomach |
| der Rücken | dair RUE-ken | पीठpīṭh | back |
| der Hals | dair hahls | गला / गर्दनgalā / gardan | throat / neck |
| der Arm | dair arm | बाँहbāñh | arm |
| das Bein | dahs byn | पैर (टाँग)pair | leg |
| Mir tut ... weh. | meer toot ... vay | मेरे ... में दर्द है।mere ... meñ dard hai | My ... hurts. |
| Ich habe Kopfschmerzen. | ikh HAH-beh KOPF-shmair-tsen | मुझे सिरदर्द है।mujhe sirdard hai | I have a headache. |
| krank | krahnk | बीमारbīmār | sick |
| gesund | geh-ZOONT | स्वस्थsvasth | healthy |
| der Arzt / die Ärztin | dair artst / dee AIRTS-tin | डॉक्टरḍŏkṭar | doctor |
| die Apotheke | dee ah-poh-TAY-keh | दवाखानाdavākhānā | pharmacy |
| das Medikament | dahs meh-dee-kah-MENT | दवाdavā | medicine |
| sich erkälten | zikh air-KEL-ten | ज़ुकाम लगनाzukām lagnā | to catch a cold |
| Ich fühle mich nicht gut. | ikh FUE-leh mikh nikht goot | मेरी तबीयत ठीक नहीं है।merī tabīyat ṭhīk nahīñ hai | I don't feel well. |