Body and Health in Catalan

In Brief

To say that a body part hurts, Catalan normally uses em fa mal + definite article + body part: Em fa mal el cap (“My head hurts”). The verb changes to fan when the painful body part is plural: Em fan mal les cames. Common health expressions use tenir (“to have”), as in Tinc febre, or estar (“to be”), as in Estic malalta.

Overview

Body and health language is an A1 topic with immediate practical value. It lets you name basic body parts, explain a simple symptom, understand questions at a pharmacy or clinic, and say that you need help. The most important pattern is fer mal, literally “to cause pain,” which organizes the sentence differently from English “my … hurts.”

Catalan also divides health descriptions between several common verbs. Tenir is used with nouns such as febre (“fever”) and tos (“cough”). Estar is used with adjectives such as malalt/malalta (“ill”) and refredat/refredada (“having a cold”). Trobar-se—literally “to find oneself”—is the everyday way to describe how someone feels: Em trobo bé (“I feel well”).

You do not need complex medical vocabulary to communicate effectively. A body part, one of these core patterns, and a few questions will cover many ordinary situations.

How It Works

Essential body-part vocabulary

Catalan nouns have a grammatical gender, which means each noun is treated as masculine or feminine and takes the corresponding article. Learn the article together with the noun: not just cap, but el cap.

Catalan	English	Catalan plural
el cap	head	els caps
la cara	face	les cares
l'ull	eye	els ulls
l'orella	ear	les orelles
el nas	nose	els nassos
la boca	mouth	les boques
el coll	neck; throat	els colls
l'espatlla	shoulder	les espatlles
el braç	arm	els braços
la mà	hand	les mans
el dit	finger; toe	els dits
el pit	chest	els pits
l'esquena	back	les esquenes
la panxa	belly; stomach area	les panxes
la cama	leg	les cames
el genoll	knee	els genolls
el peu	foot	els peus

Several forms deserve special attention. La mà is feminine despite ending in -à, and its plural is les mans. El braç becomes els braços, while el peu becomes els peus. For toes, Catalan can be more explicit and say els dits del peu (“the toes,” literally “the digits of the foot”).

Saying that something hurts: fer mal

In Em fa mal el cap, the body part is the grammatical subject (the thing responsible for the pain), while em means “to me.” This small word is an indirect object pronoun—a word that identifies the person affected by the action. The literal structure is therefore close to “The head causes pain to me.”

Pattern: person pronoun + fa/fan mal + definite article + body part

Pronoun	Person affected	With a singular body part	With a plural body part
em	me	Em fa mal el cap.	Em fan mal els ulls.
et	you (singular, informal)	Et fa mal l'esquena?	Et fan mal les cames?
li	him, her, formal you	Li fa mal el braç.	Li fan mal els genolls.
ens	us	Ens fa mal el coll.	Ens fan mal els peus.
us	you (plural)	Us fa mal la panxa?	Us fan mal les espatlles?
els	them	Els fa mal el pit.	Els fan mal les mans.

The choice between fa and fan depends on the body part, not on the person in pain:

• Em fa mal la cama — one leg, so singular fa
• Em fan mal les cames — two legs, so plural fan
• Els fa mal el cap — several people, but el cap is grammatically singular

Catalan normally uses the definite article el, la, l', els, les rather than a possessive such as “my” or “your.” The pronoun already tells the listener whose body is affected: Em fa mal el braç, not a word-for-word copy of “My arm hurts.”

Useful questions follow the same structure:

• Què et fa mal? — What hurts?
• On et fa mal? — Where does it hurt?
• Et fa mal aquí? — Does it hurt here?
• Des de quan et fa mal? — How long has it been hurting? / Since when does it hurt?

An alternative: tenir mal de

A common second pattern is tenir mal de + body area, especially for familiar kinds of pain:

• Tinc mal de cap. — I have a headache.
• Té mal de coll. — He/She has a sore throat or neck pain.
• Tenim mal d'esquena. — We have back pain.
• Tens mal de panxa? — Do you have a stomachache?

After mal de, there is normally no article before the body part. Notice the contraction in d'esquena, where de loses its final vowel before a vowel sound.

The two patterns often describe the same situation from different angles: Em fa mal el cap focuses on what hurts, while Tinc mal de cap names the complaint “a headache.”

Describing symptoms with tenir

Catalan, like English, uses “have” for some symptoms, but the article does not always match English usage.

Catalan expression	English	Note
Tinc febre.	I have a fever.	Usually no article in Catalan
Tinc tos.	I have a cough.	Usually no article
Tinc un refredat.	I have a cold.	Un is natural with refredat as a noun
Tinc mareig.	I feel dizzy / I have dizziness.	A symptom expressed as a noun
Tinc nàusees.	I feel nauseous.	Normally plural

The form of tenir changes with the person: tinc (I have), tens (you have), té (he/she has), tenim (we have), teniu (you all have), and tenen (they have).

Describing your condition with estar and trobar-se

Use estar + adjective for a state or condition. An adjective is a describing word, and in Catalan it often changes to match the person’s gender and number.

Catalan	English	Agreement
Estic malalt.	I am ill.	one male speaker
Estic malalta.	I am ill.	one female speaker
Estem malalts.	We are ill.	male or mixed group
Estem malaltes.	We are ill.	all-female group
Està refredat.	He has a cold.	masculine singular
Està refredada.	She has a cold.	feminine singular

A slash form such as refredat/ada is useful in vocabulary lists because it displays two endings. In a real sentence, choose one complete form: Estic refredat or Estic refredada.

For general well-being, trobar-se is especially natural:

• Com et trobes? — How do you feel?
• Em trobo bé. — I feel well.
• No em trobo gaire bé. — I do not feel very well.
• Em trobo malament. — I feel unwell.

Asking for help

The pattern haver de + infinitive expresses necessity. An infinitive is the basic verb form, such as anar (“to go”):

• He d'anar al metge. — I have to go to the doctor.
• Has d'anar a la farmàcia. — You have to go to the pharmacy.
• Necessito un metge. — I need a doctor.
• On és el centre de salut? — Where is the health centre?
• És una emergència. — It is an emergency.
• Truqueu a una ambulància, si us plau. — Call an ambulance, please.

In al metge, al is the required contraction of a + el. Before a feminine noun there is no contraction: a la metgessa.

Examples in Context

Catalan	English	Note
Em fa mal el cap des d'ahir.	My head has hurt since yesterday.	One painful body part: fa
Em fan mal els ulls.	My eyes hurt.	Plural body part: fan
Et fa mal aquí?	Does it hurt here?	Informal singular you
A la Marta li fa mal l'esquena.	Marta’s back hurts.	Li refers back to Marta
Què et fa mal, el braç o l'espatlla?	What hurts, your arm or your shoulder?	Asking for the painful area
Tinc mal de panxa després de dinar.	I have a stomachache after lunch.	tenir mal de pattern
El nen té mal de coll.	The child has a sore throat.	Common complaint
Tinc febre i tos.	I have a fever and a cough.	Symptoms with tenir
Avui estic malalta i em quedo a casa.	I am ill today, so I am staying home.	Female speaker
En Pau està refredat.	Pau has a cold.	Adjective agrees with Pau
No em trobo gaire bé aquest matí.	I do not feel very well this morning.	General condition
Com et trobes avui?	How do you feel today?	Everyday check-in
He d'anar al metge aquesta tarda.	I have to go to the doctor this afternoon.	Necessity with haver de
Necessito una farmàcia, si us plau.	I need a pharmacy, please.	Practical request
És urgent: truqueu a una ambulància.	It is urgent: call an ambulance.	Emergency language

Common Mistakes

Copying English possessives into the pain pattern

• Wrong: Em fa mal meu cap.
• Right: Em fa mal el cap.
• Why: Catalan normally uses a definite article with a body part here. The pronoun em already identifies the person affected.

Making the verb agree with the person

• Wrong: Em fan mal el cap.
• Right: Em fa mal el cap.
• Why: El cap is singular, so use fa. Compare plural Em fan mal els peus.

Adding a preposition before the body part

• Wrong: Em fa mal a la cama.
• Right: Em fa mal la cama.
• Why: In this construction, la cama is the subject of fa mal, so it does not take a.

Using ser for a temporary illness

• Wrong for a temporary condition: Avui soc malalt.
• Right: Avui estic malalt.
• Why: Use estar for someone’s current state. Ser malalt can describe a person as chronically ill or habitually sickly, so it does not normally express “I’m ill today.”

Saying the slash aloud

• Wrong as a complete sentence: Estic refredat/ada.
• Right: Estic refredat. / Estic refredada.
• Why: The slash is dictionary shorthand. Choose the ending that agrees with the person being described.

Forgetting the contraction al

• Wrong: He d'anar a el metge.
• Right: He d'anar al metge.
• Why: The preposition a and masculine article el contract to al.

Usage Notes

Panxa is an ordinary, widely used word for the belly or stomach area. Ventre is another word for “belly/abdomen,” while abdomen belongs more readily to anatomical or clinical language. In everyday conversation, mal de panxa is a natural way to describe a stomachache without diagnosing its cause.

Metge/metgessa is the standard pair for a male/female physician. Doctor/doctora is also heard, especially as a title or form of address, but anar al metge is the dependable everyday phrase for “go to the doctor.”

Catalan constipat/constipada can mean “having a cold.” This is a false friend for English speakers: it does not mean “constipated.” For that digestive condition, Catalan uses words related to restrenyiment. The form refredat/refredada is clear and useful across ordinary contexts.

When discussing health, exact language matters. Em fa mal el pit reports chest pain, but it does not say why. In a real emergency, do not rely on a long grammatical sentence: És urgent, Necessito ajuda, and Truqueu a una ambulància communicate the priority clearly.

Beyond the Basics: Pain, Injury, and More Formal Language

You do not need to master these distinctions at A1, but you will meet them later.

Fer-se mal means “to hurt oneself” or “to get hurt.” It often describes the event that caused an injury, whereas fer mal describes the pain you currently feel:

• Em fa mal el genoll. — My knee hurts.
• M'he fet mal al genoll. — I have hurt my knee.

Notice that the injury pattern uses a + body part: al genoll, a la cama. This does not contradict the earlier rule; it is a different construction. The second sentence also uses a compound past tense, which you can study after the A1 core.

In medical or more formal contexts, dolor (“pain”) is common:

• Tinc dolor al pit. — I have chest pain.
• El dolor és molt fort. — The pain is very strong.
• On nota el dolor? — Where do you feel the pain? (formal address)

You can also add useful details about intensity and time: Em fa una mica de mal (“It hurts a little”), Em fa molt mal (“It hurts a lot”), des d'ahir (“since yesterday”), and de tant en tant (“from time to time”). These details make a basic sentence much more informative without requiring specialist vocabulary.

Finally, fer mal is not limited to physical pain. It can describe emotional hurt or something harmful: Això em fa mal can mean “That hurts me,” physically or emotionally, depending on context.

Practice Tips

1. Learn nouns with their articles and plurals. Make pairs such as el braç → els braços and la mà → les mans. Then point to each body part and name it aloud.
2. Build a two-column pain drill. Put singular parts on one side and plural parts on the other. Say Em fa mal… for the first group and Em fan mal… for the second until agreement becomes automatic.
3. Rehearse a 20-second health exchange. Ask Com et trobes? and answer with one condition, one symptom, and one next step: No em trobo bé. Tinc febre. He d'anar al metge.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Haver and Tenir — review tenir for symptoms and haver de for saying what you need to do.