🤰😖

How to Say ‘My stomach hurts.’ in French

J'ai mal au ventre.

zhay ay mal oh VAHN-truh

[zhay ay mal oh VAHN-truh]

💬 Usage Tip: French says "I have pain at the stomach" with avoir mal à, not "my stomach hurts." Swap the body part: J'ai mal à la tête "I have a headache," J'ai mal au dos "my back hurts."

🇫🇷 In France: Ventre covers the whole belly area, so it's what people actually say to a doctor. Estomac "stomach" sounds more precise and is used less in everyday talk.

Phrase Breakdown

J'ai mal

zhay ay mal

I have pain / it hurts

'Avoir mal' means to hurt. 'J'ai' sounds like 'zhay'.

Example

J'ai mal à la tête.

I have a headache.

Words in this phrase

[zhay]

Pronoun used by the speaker to refer to himself or herself.

Example

J'aime les bonbons.

I like candies.

[ay]

have

Form of 'avoir' used with past participles to make the past tense.

Example

J'ai beaucoup appris grâce à notre discussion.

I learned a lot thanks to our discussion.

mal

[mal]

pain / ache

Noun meaning pain; 'avoir mal à' means to have pain in a body part.

Example

J'ai mal au dos.

My back hurts.

au ventre.

oh VAHN-truh

in the stomach

'Au' is 'à + le' and sounds like 'oh'. 'Ventre' has a nasal 'an' sound: 'vahn-tr'.

Example

Il a mal au ventre.

He has a stomachache.

Words in this phrase

[oh]

in the

Contraction of 'à + le'; 'croire à' means to believe in.

Example

Je crois au destin.

I believe in destiny.

ventre

[VAHN-truh]

stomach / belly

Masculine noun for the belly or abdomen.

Example

Mon ventre fait du bruit.

My stomach is making noise.

Guides for French learners

The Most Common French Verbs: the 20 You'll Actually UseThe 20 most common French verbs, with the present-tense forms you need, real example sentences with native audio, and two shortcuts for past and future.Ordering in French: Cafés, Bakeries and Restaurants (with Menu Vocabulary)How to order in French at a café, a bakery and a restaurant: the phrases, the questions staff ask, and the menu and food vocabulary to understand the answers.

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