Ways to say it
| Spanish | IPA |
|---|---|
| lastimar | /lastiˈmaɾ/ |
| hacer | /aˈθeɾ/ /aˈseɾ/ |
| causar daño | /kausaɾ daɲo/ (from spelling rules) |
| adolecer | /adoleˈθeɾ/ /adoleˈseɾ/ |
| herir | /eˈɾiɾ/ |
| damnificar | /damnifikaɾ/ (from spelling rules) |
Lastimar is a general term for causing physical pain or injury. For common, casual ways to say someone is causing harm or pain, you can use hacer daño. In more formal contexts, you might use causar dolor to express that someone is causing pain to others or sufrir when discussing emotional or psychological hurt.
Which one should you use?
While lastimar is a general term for causing pain or injury, herir is often used in more dramatic or literary contexts, such as wounding someone with a weapon or deeply hurting someone's feelings. For emotional pain, the adjective dolido is used to describe someone who is specifically aggrieved or emotionally hurt, whereas herido and leso are used for those who are wounded or physically injured.
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
In casual conversation, hacer daño is a very frequent choice for expressing hurt in both physical and emotional contexts. Herir carries a more dramatic or literary tone. For formal settings, sufrir is appropriate for emotional hurt and causar dolor can be used to describe the act of causing pain to others.
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
When you want to say that someone hurts themselves, you use the reflexive form lastimarse.
How do you pronounce it?
/lastiˈmaɾ/
What mistakes should you avoid?
English speakers often mistakenly use lastimar to say 'it hurts' (for example, *me lastima*). In Spanish, if you want to express that a body part is currently in pain, you should use the verb doler (for example, 'me duele').
Did you know?
- The Spanish word lastimar is a distant relative of the word blasfemar 'to blaspheme'. Both words share a common root in the Late Latin term blastēmāre.
- The Spanish word dolor (pain) and the verb adolecer (to suffer/lack) share a root with the English word 'doleful', meaning full of grief.
- The Spanish verb adolecer can mean to suffer from a lack of something or to be plagued by a defect, rather than just feeling physical pain.
Examples in context
- Te vas a lastimar.You will hurt yourself.This sentence shows how to use the reflexive form of lastimar to say 'to hurt oneself'.Tatoeba #941425 by hayastan, translation #22289 by CK
- No heriremos a Tom.We won't hurt Tom.This sentence uses the verb herir.Tatoeba #9991160 by manufrutos, translation #9990655 by CK
- Él no quiso herirte.He didn't mean to hurt you.Tatoeba #1265528 by marcelostockle, translation #284773 by CK
- Me duele la cabeza.My head hurts.
- Me duele la espalda.My back hurts.
- Me duelen los pies.My feet hurt.
- Me duele el estómago.My stomach hurts.
- Me lastimé el brazo.I hurt my arm.
- La caída lastimó su rodilla.The fall hurt his/her knee.
- Sufre por la pérdida de su ser querido.He/she suffers from the loss of a loved one.
- Los niños sufren mucho durante el divorcio de sus padres.Children suffer a lot during their parents' divorce.
- Sus palabras causaron dolor en mi corazón.His/her words caused pain in my heart.
- El accidente causó mucho dolor a las víctimas.The accident caused a lot of pain to the victims.
- Le duele a mi hermano la espalda.My brother's back hurts.
- Me hice daño en la rodilla cuando caí.I hurt my knee when I fell.
- Las palabras de Juan le hacen daño a María.Juan's words hurt María.
- 118 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
María and Alejandro are talking in the kitchen after a minor accident.
- María¿Te lastimaste con el cuchillo?Did you hurt yourself with the knife?
- AlejandroNo, no me lastimé.No, I didn't hurt myself.
- MaríaTen mucho cuidado para no lastimarte.Be very careful so you don't hurt yourself.
- AlejandroEstá bien, gracias por avisarme.Okay, thanks for telling me.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “hurt” translations and entries lastimar, hacer, adolecer, herir, damnificar, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries adolecer, causar, daño, hacer, lastimar, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
