What is the difference between Doler, Herir and Hacer Daño

Question

When talking about a pain, injury and to be hurt

Answer 1

Doler is 'to hurt' (on the side of the person being hurt; you don't really doler other people. It is usually used to say "Me duele el [...] (whatever part of you hurts)). Herir is 'to wound'. Hacer daño is also 'to hurt', or 'to do damage'.

Answer 2

Doler, usually meaning "to cause pain, (nb not - 'to hurt' - there is a difference)

My tooth hurts. Me duele el diente.

doler takes an indirect-object pronoun and the pronoun refers to the person who is experiencing the pain, not what is causing the pain (unlike English as in the example above).

Me duele los ojos al leer. My eyes hurt when I read. Nos duelen las manos y las piernas. Our hands and legs hurt.

Doler can also be used for emotional pain:

Me duele que no me llamaron, I am hurt that they didn't call me.

Doler can sometimes be used reflexively to refer to generally being in pain.

Me duelo mucho. I'm in a lot of pain.

Herir means 'to injure'

Los soldados hirieron a un civil durante el conflicto

The soldiers injured a civilian during the conflict

Hacer daño can be translated either as 'to hurt' or 'to injure'

Mi padre no le hizo daño a nadie.

My father didn't hurt anybody.

Hope that helps

doler can be thought of similar to "to ache" another intransitive verb - 0074b507, Jun 24, 2010