What hurts: με πονάει το κεφάλι
"My head hurts" turns around in Greek: the aching thing is the subject, and the person stands aside in the accusative. Με πονάει το κεφάλι μου comes out word for word as "me hurts my head". For example: “Με πονάει ο λαιμός μου” — My throat hurts. A rule from the Greek course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
"My head hurts" turns around in Greek: the aching thing is the subject, and the person stands aside in the accusative. Με πονάει το κεφάλι μου (me ponái to kefáli mu) comes out word for word as "me hurts my head".
From this the main consequence: the verb agrees with what hurts, not with the person. One place — πονάει (ponái), several — πονάνε: Με πονάνε τα πόδια μου. Saying πονάω about yourself is also correct — Πονάω means "I am in pain" in general, with no place named.
The second track is έχω (ékho). A Greek does not "suffer" a symptom but literally "has" it: έχω πυρετό (ékho piretó), έχω βήχα (ékho víkha), έχω συνάχι (ékho sinákhi) — I have a fever, a cough, a runny nose. The word goes without an article: it is a fixed pairing, not an ordinary object.
The third — verbs in -ομαι, with which Greek describes states: ζαλίζομαι (I feel dizzy), ανακατεύομαι (I feel sick), κουράζομαι (I get tired). There is no acting person in them at all, and that is the whole point of the form: something happens to the person rather than the person doing it.
And the fourth — είμαι (íme) with a participle for what will pass: Είμαι κουρασμένος (íme kurazménos). A man says κουρασμένος (kurazménos), a woman κουρασμένη — the participle agrees like an adjective.
Table
| one place aches | several places ache | |
|---|---|---|
| at me | με πονάει το κεφάλι | με πονάνε τα πόδια |
| at you | σε πονάει το κεφάλι | σε πονάνε τα πόδια |
| at him, at you (pl.) | τον πονάει το κεφάλι | τον πονάνε τα πόδια |
By example
- Με πονάει ο λαιμός μουme ponái o lemós muMy throat hurts
- Έχω πυρετό από χθεςékho piretó apó khthesI've had a temperature since yesterday
- Δεν νιώθω καλά, ζαλίζομαιden niótho kalá, zalízomeI feel unwell, my head is spinning
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
What hurts: how does it work in Greek?
"My head hurts" turns around in Greek: the aching thing is the subject, and the person stands aside in the accusative. Με πονάει το κεφάλι μου comes out word for word as "me hurts my head".
What does it look like in an example sentence Greek?
“Με πονάει ο λαιμός μου” (me ponái o lemós mu) — My throat hurts. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.