Me duele el estómago

Question

"My stomach hurts."

Are both equally correct? Or which is preferred usage, if either? In other words, would a spanish child say either of these sentences when complaining to their parents about a stomach ache?

Me duele el estómago.

Mi estómago me duele.

Answer 1

There is a big problem with the second one. If you keep a stomach in a closet, and it somehow hurts you, then "Mi estómago me duele" is perfect, but if you are referring to the one inside your body, then you have to say "el estómago". We don't use possessives (mi, tu, su, nuestro...) with intimate objects or parts of the body; only with things that we possess or we can acquire. Look at these examples, and how a native would read them:

Voy a lavarme los dientes = I am going to brush my teeth

Voy a lavar mis dientes = I am going to brush my false teeth

See? When you say "mis", we'd assume that those teeth are not part of your body.

interesting. good to know - cheeseisyummy, Dec 28, 2010

Lazarus, you are a wealth of information and are really good at explaining things that don't make intuitive sense about the Spanish language, but that we English-speakers can understand and accept. I'm really grateful for your explanations. - JoyceM, Dec 28, 2010

Answer 2

They're both correct. For some reason #1 sounds more popular around here, but I won't swear to that.

Edit: I completely overlooked the possessive pronoun in #2. That's wrong. It should just be el estómago.