Pains and body

❃ Pains and body

ここが痛いです。 [ Koko ga itai desu. ]: It hurts here.
頭が痛いです。 [ Atama ga itai desu. ]: I have a headache.
お腹が痛いです。 [ Onaka ga itai desu. ]: I have a stomachache.
胃が痛いです。 [ I ga itai desu. ]: My stomach (organ) hurts.
歯が痛いです。 [ Ha ga itai desu. ]: I have a toothache.
胸が痛いです。 [ Mune ga itai desu. ]: My chest hurts.
背中が痛いです。 [ Senaka ga itai desu. ]: My back hurts.
足が痛いです。 [ Ashi ga itai desu. ]: My leg/foot hurts.
腕が痛いです。 [ Ude ga itai desu. ]: My arm hurts.
関節が痛いです。 [ Kansetsu ga itai desu. ]: My joints hurt.
押すと痛いです。 [ Osu to itai desu. ]: It hurts when pressed.
ズキズキ痛みます。 [ Zukizuki itamimasu. ]: It's a throbbing pain.
チクチク痛みます。 [ Chikuchiku itamimasu. ]: It's a prickly/sharp pain.
痛みがずっと続いています。 [ Itami ga zutto tsuduite imasu. ]: The pain has been constant.
痛くて動けません。 [ Itakute ugokemasen. ]: It hurts so much I can't move.

Cultural notes

Communicating pain in Japan introduces travelers to one of the most fascinating, vivid, and culturally unique aspects of the Japanese language: the extensive use of onomatopoeia and mimetic words (Gitaigo - 擬態語). In Western medicine, a patient might describe pain using clinical adjectives like "sharp," "dull," or "throbbing." While you can simply point to your body and say "Itai desu" (痛いです - It hurts), a Japanese doctor will almost certainly ask you *how* it hurts. To answer this accurately, Japanese people use specific repeating sound-words that perfectly mimic the physical sensation of the pain. For instance, if you have a terrible migraine or a throbbing toothache that pulses with your heartbeat, you say it hurts "Zukizuki" (ズキズキ痛みます - Zukizuki itamimasu). If the pain feels like tiny needles or sharp, prickly stabbing sensations (like an insect bite or stomach cramps), you describe it as "Chikuchiku" (チクチク痛みます). There is even "Kirikiri" (キリキリ) for a sharp, piercing pain often associated with intense stomach aches caused by stress, and "Gangan" (ガンガン) for a splitting headache that feels like a bell being struck inside your skull. Learning these few mimetic words is incredibly helpful because they instantly convey the exact nature of your suffering to the medical staff far better than complex medical terminology ever could. Of course, knowing the basic vocabulary for body parts is just as vital. Combining the body part with the word for pain—such as "Atama ga itai" (頭が痛い - My head hurts) or "Onaka ga itai" (お腹が痛い - My stomach hurts)—gives the doctor the location, while the onomatopoeia gives them the feeling. This highly descriptive linguistic tradition makes Japanese medical consultations wonderfully expressive.

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