Parts of the Body in French: J’ai Mal Au Dos

Parts of the body in French: la tête, j’ai mal au dos, and coûter les yeux de la tête

Short answer: learn each word with le or la: la tête (head), le bras (arm), la main (hand). To say something hurts, use avoir mal à, which merges with the article: j’ai mal à la tête, j’ai mal au dos, j’ai mal aux pieds. For your own body, French says “the”, not “my”: je me lave les mains.

Avoir mal à: the four forms

Au, à la, à l’, aux

After à, the article le merges into au and les into aux. La and l’ stay as they are. The gender (masculine or feminine) of the body part decides which form you need.

auà + le, masculineMy stomach hurts.

à lafeminineI have a sore throat.

à l’before a vowel or hMy shoulder hurts.

auxà + les, pluralMy eyes hurt.

The face, and two odd plurals

L’œil, les yeux

Two plurals to learn by heart: un œil becomes des yeux, and words in -ou like le genou take an x: les genoux. Tap a word to hear it.

Singular	Plural	English
l’œilluhy	les yeux	eye
le frontluh FRON	les fronts	forehead
le sourcilluh soor-SEE	les sourcils	eyebrow
la jouela ZHOO	les joues	cheek
le nezluh NAY	les nez	nose
la bouchela BOOSH	les bouches	mouth
la lèvrela LEVR	les lèvres	lip
la dentla DON	les dents	tooth
le genouluh zhuh-NOO	les genoux	knee

“The” instead of “my”

Je me brosse les dents

A reflexive verb (se laver, se casser) already shows whose body it is, so the noun takes le, la, les.

JeImemyselfbrossebrushles dents.the teeth

zhuh muh BROSS lay DON · “I brush my teeth.”

Lave-toiwash-yourselfles mains !the hands

LAV-twa lay MAN · “Wash your hands!”

Ilhes’esthimself-hascassébrokenla jambe.the leg

eel say ka-SAY la ZHONB · “He broke his leg.”

Elleshelèveraisesla main.the hand

el LEV la MAN · “She puts her hand up.”

Body expressions

Coûter les yeux de la tête, avoir le cœur sur la main

Body language

Hausser les épaules, faire la bise

Shrug

Ilhehausseraisesles épaules.the shoulders

eel OHS lay zay-POHL · “He shrugs.”Why: The classic French shrug, often with bof.

Greeting kiss

Onwese faiteach-other makela bise.the kiss

on suh fay la BEEZ · “We greet with a kiss on the cheek.”Why: Two kisses in Paris, up to four in some regions.

Not convinced

Mon œil !my eye

mon NUHY · “Yeah, right!”Why: Said while pulling down the lower eyelid.

Delicious

C’estit-isà se lécherto oneself lickles doigts.the fingers

say ta suh lay-SHAY lay DWA · “It’s finger-licking good.”Why: Often with a kiss on the fingertips.

Describing people

Il a les cheveux courts

French describes features with avoir + les + noun + adjective: “he has the hair short”.

Keep going