Grammar question: Me duele la garganta
Me duele la garganta.
Why is the word 'duele' used in this context instead of 'duelo' when there is no need for the use of a subjective?
Is the 'me' in this context a reflexive verb?
Thanks for taking time to answer my question.
10 Answers
It means "I have a sore throat" but literally it is saying "My throat hurts me". The throat is doing the hurting, therefore "duele". Yo "duelo" would mean "I hurt".
transitive sentence
- Abbr. trans. or tr. or t. Grammar Expressing an action carried from the subject to the object; requiring a direct object to complete meaning. Used of a verb or verb construction.
in·tran·si·tive
Designating a verb or verb construction that does not require or cannot take a direct object, as snow or sleep.
The difference is easier to see with action verbs.
verb=to play
Did you guys play cards last weekend? This sentence has a d.o. (cards) so it is transitive.
Answer: We did [play]. (no direct object, so this sentence is intransitive.
Spanish can use "se" to make verbs normally used transitively into intransitive sentences.
The rock broke the bottle. (transitive-bottle is the d.o.)
La pierda (roca) rompió la botella. (transitive)
La botella se rompió. (The bottle broke). Intransitive-no d.o. (also passive voice)
She hit me. (me is a direct object-transitive sentence0
She hit to ball to me. (me is an indirect object in a transitive sentence).
They are harder to see with non-action verbs like to please, to like, etc.
Reading pleases me. (transitive-me is a d.o.)
Reading is pleasing to me. (intransitive sentence-no d.o., "me" is the object of a preposition in English, the indirect object in Spanish.
I think this is where you are finding it hard to follow. And the explanation can get complicated because of the differences between a indirect object in Spanish and one in English concerning prepositional phrases.
I would suggest reviewing transitive and intransitive sentence in English grammar before trying to apply it to Spanish sentences. The rule about d.o. or no d.o. is simple, but it is not always clear if there is a d.o. or not in Spanish or English sentences.
La garganta is the subject of that sentence (not the direct object). Gustar-like sentences are intransitive which means that there is no direct object in the sentence.
My (Spanish uses definite articles rather than possessive adjectives with body parts) throat is painful to me. Me duele la garganta. (Remember Spanish often puts the subject after the verb). La garganta me duele is also perfectly acceptable, just not the most common construction.
In the English sentence My throat hurts me. We have a transitive sentence with a direct object. Spanish does not use that construction for this context.
Me gustan las manzanas.
Apples are pleasing to me. There is no direct object in the sentence. It is an intransitive sentence.
I like apples. This is a transitive sentence in English with a direct object.
So with gustar-like verbs Spanish chooses to use an intransitive sentence structure where English uses a transitive sentence.
Just one of those things you must learn to recognize. Why is it done that way? Why is the sky blue?
Thanks usarenzo. May I know if 'me' is the reflexive verb in the above context?
No, it is not reflexive. When reflexive the subject/object will be the same. In this intransitive sentence the subject is la gargantia and [there is no object] me is an i.o.p.. To be reflexive it would have to be me duelo as you suspected.
It would be closer to consider it a gustar-like verb with the me being an i.o.p.
gustar-like verbs Notice that doler is listed among the gustar-like verbs.
So it is not even reflexive in the broad sense (being pronominal..verb used with reflexive pronoun). The "me" is an object pronoun, not a reflexive pronoun
Like with gustar where we use "is pleasing to" ; try thinking "is painful to" for doler.
By the way, if you look up dolerse (pronominal usage) you will see that it means to complain about something or to be sorry about something.
Thanks for taking time to answer my questions.
Is it grammatically correct to write ' La garganta duele' to mean 'my throat hurts', or must I put in ' la garganta me duele' to mean 'my throat hurts me'?
I would also like to thank you for sharing transitive and intransitive sentences, but I am unable to dfferentiate the two. What exactly are the 2 types of sentences?
I am pretty confused as to when to use and when not to use the 'object pronouns'.
In the above sentence, 'Me duele la garganta.', how come there isn't any direct object pronoun when 'la garganta' is the direct object? i.e. Me la duele la garganta.
Is it only used when 'la garganta' becomes an 'it' in the sentence?
Thanks a lot gfreed for clearing up the miconceptions.
Mi garganta me duele tambien! 
In this case, wouldn't it be 'duela', given that the infinitive is 'dolar'?
