German Body Parts: Vocabulary + How to Say It Hurts

You can point at your own body and still be stuck at a German pharmacy if all you memorized was a flat list of nouns. The list is the easy half. The useful half is two things most guides skip: the gender that rides along with every body part, and the very specific way German tells someone it hurts. Get those, and you can walk into an Apotheke and actually be understood.

This guide gives you the head-to-toe vocabulary with der/die/das and plurals, then the pain grammar, then a short survival script for the pharmacy.

Why body parts in German need genders and plurals

Every German noun is der, die, or das, and body parts are some of the worst offenders for being unpredictable: the eye is das Auge, the nose is die Nase, the head is der Kopf. There’s no reliable rule, so you simply learn the article with the word — the same habit that powers the broader der/die/das gender rules.

Plurals matter more here than almost anywhere else, because the body comes in pairs: two eyes, two ears, two hands, two feet. The good news is the plural article is always the same.

The catch is the noun ending. Many body words add an umlaut in the plural — der Fuß → die Füße, die Hand → die Hände, der Zahn → die Zähne, der Kopf → die Köpfe. Others, especially -en and -er words, don’t change at all — der Finger → die Finger, der Rücken → die Rücken, das Knie → die Knie. When in doubt, expect an umlaut on short, common words and no change on longer ones.

Head and face

German	English	Plural
der Kopf	head	die Köpfe
das Gesicht	face	die Gesichter
das Auge	eye	die Augen
das Ohr	ear	die Ohren
die Nase	nose	die Nasen
der Mund	mouth	die Münder
der Zahn	tooth	die Zähne

Notice das Auge and das Ohr both go -en in the plural (die Augen, die Ohren) — handy, because you’ll meet Ohren again inside the word for earache.

Neck, torso, and back

German	English	Plural
der Hals	neck / throat	die Hälse
die Schulter	shoulder	die Schultern
die Brust	chest	die Brüste
der Rücken	back	die Rücken
der Bauch	belly	die Bäuche

One word does double duty: der Hals means both neck and throat, which is why a sore throat becomes Halsschmerzen. And keep der Bauch (the outside belly) separate from der Magen (the stomach organ) — in everyday speech a stomachache is Bauchschmerzen.

Internal organs

German	English	Plural
das Herz	heart	die Herzen
die Lunge	lung	die Lungen
der Magen	stomach (organ)	die Mägen
die Leber	liver	die Lebern
die Niere	kidney	die Nieren

Arms, hands, and fingers

German	English	Plural
der Arm	arm	die Arme
die Hand	hand	die Hände
der Finger	finger	die Finger
der Daumen	thumb	die Daumen
der Nagel	nail	die Nägel

Legs and feet

German	English	Plural
das Bein	leg	die Beine
das Knie	knee	die Knie
der Fuß	foot	die Füße
die Ferse	heel	die Fersen
die Zehe	toe	die Zehen

Watch the spelling on der Fuß: it’s an ß, not a double s, and the plural takes an umlaut — die Füße.

How to say “it hurts” in German

This is where the vocabulary becomes a usable sentence. German has two everyday ways to report pain, and they don’t map onto English word for word.

The dative way — Mir tut der Kopf weh

The verb is weh tun (literally “to do hurt”). The body part is the grammatical subject, and the person who hurts goes in the dative: mir (to me), dir (to you), ihm (to him). If pairing this with the German case system feels new, the dative is exactly the “to/for whom” slot.

German	English
Mir tut der Kopf weh.	My head hurts.
Mir tut der Bauch weh.	My stomach hurts.
Mir tun die Füße weh.	My feet hurt.
Tut dir der Hals weh?	Does your throat hurt?

Two things to lock in. First, German says der Kopf, not “my head” — the dative mir already tells you whose head it is. Second, when a pair hurts, the verb goes plural: Mir tun die Füße weh, with tun, not tut, because die Füße is the plural subject.

The possessive shortcut — Mein Kopf tut weh

Beginners can sidestep the dative: Mein Kopf tut weh (“My head hurts”). It’s correct and common. The dative version just generalizes more cleanly across different people and parts, so it’s worth growing into.

The -schmerzen compounds — Ich habe Kopfschmerzen

German welds the body part onto -schmerzen (“pains”) to name a common ache. These are plural nouns, so you say Ich habe + the compound, with no article.

German	English
Ich habe Kopfschmerzen.	I have a headache.
Ich habe Bauchschmerzen.	I have a stomachache.
Ich habe Halsschmerzen.	I have a sore throat.
Ich habe Zahnschmerzen.	I have a toothache.
Ich habe Ohrenschmerzen.	I have an earache.

When to use which

They overlap a lot, but a rule of thumb works: use a -schmerzen compound for the handful of famous aches (head, stomach, throat, teeth, back, ears), and use weh tun for everything else — Mir tut die Schulter weh, Mir tut das Knie weh. There’s no standard Schulterschmerzen you’d reach for in casual speech, so weh tun covers the gaps.

Other symptoms you’ll pair with these

German	English
Ich habe Fieber.	I have a fever.
Ich habe Husten.	I have a cough.
Mir ist schwindelig.	I feel dizzy.
Mir ist übel.	I feel nauseous.
Ich fühle mich nicht wohl.	I don't feel well.

Notice German says Mir ist schwindelig, not Ich bin schwindelig — dizziness and nausea use the dative mir ist, not ich bin.

At the pharmacy — a survival script

In Germany even over-the-counter painkillers live behind the counter at an Apotheke, not in a supermarket. So you will actually need to ask. Key words: die Apotheke (pharmacy), das Schmerzmittel (painkiller), die Tablette (tablet), rezeptfrei (over the counter).

German	English
Ich brauche etwas gegen Kopfschmerzen.	I need something for a headache.
Haben Sie etwas gegen Husten?	Do you have something for a cough?
Ich brauche ein Schmerzmittel.	I need a painkiller.
Ist das rezeptfrei?	Is that available without a prescription?

A few common mistakes

Three trip up almost everyone. Don’t say Mir tut mein Kopf weh — drop the possessive and use der Kopf. Don’t keep the verb singular for a pair — it’s Mir tun die Füße weh. And don’t treat the ache nouns as singular — it’s Ich habe Kopfschmerzen, never einen Kopfschmerz.

You now have more than a list: you can name the part, give it the right article and plural, and tell someone it hurts in two different ways. Next time you order — or recover — try slipping one of these phrases in, the same way you would with restaurant phrases for ordering food. Point, name it, say it hurts. Du schaffst das.