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JLPT N5Expressions

〜が痛い— Expressing Pain

To say a body part hurts, mark it with が and use the い-adjective 痛い. You normally omit 'my' — context makes ownership clear.

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Pro lessonUNIT 38 · EXPRESSIONS

Structure · 形

[Body part] + が + 痛い (です)

Examples · 例文

  • 頭が痛いです。

    Atama ga itai desu.

    My head hurts. (I have a headache.)

    頭 (head) + が (subject) + 痛い (painful).

  • お腹が痛い。

    Onaka ga itai.

    My stomach hurts.

    お腹 = stomach/belly; the お is a fixed part of the word here.

  • 昨日から歯が痛いです。

    Kinou kara ha ga itai desu.

    My tooth has hurt since yesterday.

    歯 (tooth) + が + 痛い (painful); 昨日から = since yesterday.

Usage notes · 注意

  • Drop 'my': 私の頭が痛い sounds unnatural — since you obviously feel your own pain, just say 頭が痛い.
  • 痛い is an い-adjective (a state), not a verb, so it takes が on the body part.
  • Idiom: 頭が痛い can also mean 'it's a headache / a worry' figuratively.

Commonly confused with

The JLPT rarely asks whether you recognise a pattern — it asks which of several similar patterns fits. These are the ones 〜が痛い is tested against.

vs〜が痛い vs 〜を痛める

〜が痛い describes the state of hurting (足が痛い = my leg hurts); 〜を痛める is the action of injuring a part (足を痛めた = I hurt my leg).

vsが vs は with body parts

が simply reports the painful part; using は (頭は痛い) contrasts it (my head hurts, but... something else).

More expressions

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