Vocabulary: The Body

Cuerpo = Body

Dedos = Fingers / Toes (same word for feet and hands)

Pies = Feet (one foot would be PIE, without the accent, that was removed years ago)

Rodillas = Knees

Piernas = Legs

Caderas = Hips (although the word exists, it’s used considerably less than in English)

Muslos = Thighs

Cintura = Waist

Estómago = Stomach (the normal version of that body part, the one to use at the doctor)

Barriga = Belly (the informal word, to use in regular conversation)

Pecho = Chest

Pechos = Breasts (the -S at the end makes it plural, without it, it’s chest or one breast)

Hombros = Shoulders

Brazos = Arms

Codos = Elbows

Muñecas = Wrists (it also means “dolls”, it’s not related, but it’s interesting to remember)

Manos = Hands (despite ending in -O it’s feminine so: La mano / Las manos)

Espalda = Back

Culo = Ass (don’t even think about translating American expressions into Spanish. They will

not make any sense whatsoever).

Cuello = Neck

Cabeza = Head

Cara = Face

Ojos = Eyes

Nariz = Nose

Boca = Mouth

Orejas = Ears (there is a word OIDO for the inner ear, if someone sings badly, that’s the part
that hurts and gets mentioned in the sentence, not orejas)

Labios = Lips

Dientes = Teeth (one tooth is diente, without the -S)

Pestañas = Eyelashes

Cejas = Eyebrows

Frente = Forehead (literally “front” of the head, so the word is used for more things)

Piel = Skin

Pelo = Hair

Moreno = Dark (also for skin tones. “Estás moreno = You look tanned” after the beach or

after going on holidays. “Eres moreno = You are tanned” as a person. Your natural skin tone is

dark.

Castaño = Brown (for hair)

Rubio = Blond

Pelirrojo = Red (for hair, and we say “Pelo pelirrojo”, even if the word “pelo” is repeated)

The last words are adjectives, so if we apply them to a girl, they change to -A:

Una amiga rubia = A blond girl friend / Unos hombres castaños = Some men with brown hair.

The word “moreno” can talk about hair or skin color, so the element it refers to usually gets

mentioned to avoid confusion: Un hombre de pelo moreno = A man with dark hair. In some

countries and precisely in some age ranges, the word “negro” for a black man is considered

somehow insensitive, and the word “moreno” gets used instead. In a twist of language uses,

now the terms have taken opposite places, and it’s considered offensive not to describe a

black person as “negro / negra”, so “moreno” is used for brown-skinned people or white

people that got tanned by the environment.

As you will learn, cultural differences make subjects regarding race and appearance vary in

Hispanic countries compared to the English-speaking ones. Appearance gets a predominant

position overcoming race as the element of interest or significance, which means that a redhaired man
will get more attention than a black person in most areas, and this attention is due
to exotic or uncommon elements, which is an inherent part of the Hispanic culture, and one of

the historical reasons explaining why most families in Latin America have mixed ancestry

whereas in English-speaking countries the mixing is less prevalent.

A good way to review the parts of the body is using that vocabulary to express injuries,

accidents and pain, which is our next topic.

Pain / Dolor - Injuries / Heridas

The structure in English is with a possessive pronoun: “My head hurts” (the head is mine and it

hurts in general). Whereas in Spanish, the structure is with a reflexive pronoun like the ones

we saw. Doler = To hurt / Me duele = It hurts to me. After that, we just introduce the element

with an article:

Me duele la cabeza = The head hurts to me (My head hurts, but with Spanish grammar, it

becomes obvious that the head hurting me... is mine).

It might not be very clear yet, but luckily we have a construction in English that is more or less

the same: “It pains me to see you cry”, “It pains me to have to say this but...” In our case, we

would be talking about “The head pains me”, understanding that the head causing me such

pain is my own. So we will be using the pronouns we already know but we only need “duele”

for singular organs and “duelen” for plural.

Me duelen las piernas = My legs hurt

Le duele la espalda = His / Her / Its back hurts

¿Te duelen lo ojos? = Do your eyes hurt?

Nos duelen los dientes = Our teeth hurt

Os duele la cara = Your face hurts

Les duele el pecho = Their chests hurt (notice how the construction in Spanish has a singular

“pecho” instead of a plural “pechos” which would indicate that their breasts are the ones

hurting, instead of the whole chest)

Of course, changing the tense will allow us to use some of the forms we already know:

Me va a doler la cabeza = My head is going to hurt

Le dolerá el estómago si come mucho helado = His / Her stomach will hurt if he / she eats a lot
of ice cream (helado = ice cream)

Te ha dolido el hombro hasta hoy = Your shoulder has hurt you until today

Les están doliendo las piernas = Their legs are hurting

It’s also worth mentioning that just like in English, my head can hurt, words can hurt, getting

punched in the face can hurt, etc. So those origins of pain remain common:

Le duelen las manos = The hands hurt him (his hands hurt)

Le duelen tus palabras = Your words hurt him (tus palabras = your words)

Me duelen vuestras acusaciones = Your (you people) accusations hurt me

Herida = Wound

Tengo una herida en la mano y me duele = I have a wound in my hand and it hurts me

Corte = Cut

Me he cortado en la pierna y es un problema = I have cut myself “in the leg” and it’s a

problem.

Caerse = To Fall (me caigo, te caes, se cae, nos caemos, os caéis, se caen) It’s reflexive, so I “fall

myself”

A menudo cuando voy en bicicleta me caigo y me duele = Often, when I go by bicycle I fall and

it hurts (a menudo = often)