em fa mal l'esquena
“em fa mal l'esquena” — my back hurts in Catalan. Phrase, level A2. Literally "it makes back-pain": the fa mal construction again, with the back. By evening my back hurts if I sit hunched. In a live sentence: “Per la tarda em fa mal l'esquena si m'assec corbat” — By evening my back hurts if I sit hunched. You can hear how it sounds right here. A word from the everyday Catalan course, level A2.
In short
| Written in Catalan | em fa mal l'esquena |
| Translation | my back hurts |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | A2 |
- em fa mal l'esquenamy back hurts
Why it looks that way
Literally "it makes back-pain": the fa mal construction again, with the back. By evening my back hurts if I sit hunched
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Per la tarda em fa mal l'esquena si m'assec corbatBy evening my back hurts if I sit hunched
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “my back hurts” in Catalan?
«em fa mal l'esquena». In a live sentence: “Per la tarda em fa mal l'esquena si m'assec corbat” — By evening my back hurts if I sit hunched. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Phrase, level A2.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Literally "it makes back-pain": the fa mal construction again, with the back. By evening my back hurts if I sit hunched. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how this sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.