Using doler in Spanish to say that something hurts

"To hurt" in Spanish: doler

In Spanish to express that "something hurts" we use the verb doler in El Presente.

Have a look at these examples:

While in English it is a very straightforward sentence:

in Spanish the word order is different:

Notice that in front of the verb there is a personal pronoun (me, te). It is as if we are saying "something hurts me/you".

We use the personal pronouns to indicate who has the pain. They are always placed in front of the verb.

Have a look at these other examples and notice how duele changes to duelen:

In the sentences above, what hurts is plural, therefore duele changes to duelen. The verb needs to agree with the subject.

If you see all the examples above, they are not using possessive pronouns (mi, tu...=my, your...) when saying what is hurting, like you do in English: "My leg hurts"; we use articles el, la, los, las. 

To ask someone if something hurts, the same rule applies, you just need the question marks. For example:

To learn more about personal pronouns have a look at Pronombre de complemento indirecto.
See also A1 Spanish verb list: Stem-changing verbs: present tense (o > ue)