Physical states and sensations

Understanding Physical States and Sensations in Spanish

This lesson focuses on expressing how we feel physically, especially after activities like work or exercise. You'll learn to describe conditions like tiredness, hunger, thirst, pain, and more using common Spanish expressions and adjectives.

Key Vocabulary: Physical States and Body Care Actions

• Physical states and sensations: el dolor (pain), duele (hurts), agotado (exhausted), cansado (tired), hambre (hunger), sed (thirst)
• Actions to take care of the body: dormir una siesta (take a nap), cuidarte (take care of yourself)

Using Past Participles as Adjectives

Spanish often uses past participles ending in -ado to describe physical states. For example, Estoy cansado means "I am tired." These adjectives help describe how someone feels following an action.

Example Sentences

• Estoy cansado después de trabajar todo el día. (I am tired after working all day.)
• ¿Tienes hambre o sed ahora? (Are you hungry or thirsty now?)
• Me duele la cabeza porque no he dormido bien. (My head hurts because I haven't slept well.)
• Ella está sudada después de hacer ejercicio. (She is sweaty after exercising.)
• ¿Quieres descansar y dormir una siesta un rato? (Do you want to rest and take a nap for a while?)
• Nos sentimos relajados después de meditar juntos. (We feel relaxed after meditating together.)

Practical Dialogues for Everyday Situations

The lesson includes real-life dialogues between colleagues, gym partners, and family members to help you practice asking and talking about how you feel physically. These give you useful phrases for expressing exhaustion, thirst, needing rest, and offering help.

Sample Dialogue Topics

• At the office after work: expressing tiredness and needing rest.
• At the gym: sharing feelings after exercise.
• At home after being outside: describing physical sensations and needs.

Verb Practice

The lesson focuses on important reflexive verbs related to taking care of yourself and feeling states, such as cuidarse (to take care of oneself), dormir (to sleep), sentirse (to feel), and relajarse (to relax). You will see conjugation tables for these verbs in the present tense, useful for building sentences like:

• Ahora me cuido más porque estoy cansado después del trabajo. (Now I take better care of myself because I am tired after work.)
• Después de caminar mucho, me siento agotado y necesito descansar. (After walking a lot, I feel exhausted and need to rest.)

About Differences Between English and Spanish

Spanish often uses reflexive verbs to express states and care actions, as in me cuido (I take care of myself), which is less common in English. Also, past participles like cansado (tired) function as adjectives to describe feelings, similar but not always identical to English adjectives.

Useful phrases include:

• Estoy cansado - I am tired
• Tengo hambre - I am hungry (literally "I have hunger")
• Me duele la cabeza - My head hurts (literally "Aches me the head")
• Me siento agotado - I feel exhausted

Remember that expressions about physical sensations in Spanish often use verbs like tener (to have) or sentirse (to feel), which may differ from English subject-verb usage.