Sentence practice

J'ai mal à la tête.

/ʒe mal a la tɛt/

I have a headache.

A1neutral

The sentence, word by word

PatternSUBJ + avoir + mal + à + ARTICLE + BODY

J'Isubject
aihaveverb
malpain / acheobject
à laone unit≠ au · auxat thepreposition of place
têteheadcomplement (body part)

The verb — where it comes from

ai←avoirGroup 3 · irregular
This verb is irregular — it isn't built from anything and has to be learned. Its full table is below, in the rule's explanation.
Mood
indicative
Tense
present
Person
first person singular (je)
With
J'
Irregular. There is no stem-plus-ending pattern to follow; the whole table has to be learned, like English be: am, is, are.
Full conjugation of «avoir»

Spelling and sound changes

élision — a vowel dropsje ai → j'ai(je + vowel)

Notes on this sentence

aiEnglish my head hurts or I have a headache; French I have pain at the head: j'ai mal à la tête.
à laà + la tête. With a masculine body part it merges: au dos.
têtethe head, not my head — the subject already tells whose.

The rules in this sentence

Tap any of them to open its full explanation right here.