Body part articles

AlexA1Kwiziq 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
CécileKwiziq team memberCorrect 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! 

JudyC1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

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

Body part articles

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

My understanding was that you used definitive articles, not possesive

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