Body part articles

Alex T.A1Kwiziq community member

Body part articles

Why "ses jambes" instead of "les jambes"?

My understanding was that you used definitive articles, not possesive

Asked 4 years ago
CécileNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hi Alex,

To say :

her legs hurt

the two possibilities given are -

Elle a mal aux jambes 

and this is the accompanying Kwiziq lesson -

https://french.kwiziq.com/revision/grammar/avoir-mal-a-to-be-in-pain-to-hurt-somewhere

where you use -

avoir mal + the definite article + the part of the body

and 

ses jambes lui font mal 

which is another way of saying the same thing  where you use

the possessive + part of the body with faire mal 

Mes yeux/mes genoux/mes oreilles me font mal My eyes/ my knees/ my ears hurt me

with an interesting construction 

What hurts + indirect object pronoun + faire mal 

Hope this helps! 

Judy B.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Thank you for the response. It clarified my question exactly.

Alex T. asked:

Body part articles

Why "ses jambes" instead of "les jambes"?

My understanding was that you used definitive articles, not possesive

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