“Me duele la cabeza”, not “mi cabeza”
CEFR A2 · part 1
edumaterial's parts within the level. The European framework does not subdivide them.
“Comí” or “comía”Choosing between the two past tenses: a finished action with “comí”, a background, a…“Por” or “para”Choosing between “por” and “para” for cause, purpose, destination, duration, exchange…“Lo”, “la”, “le” — and they go in frontReplacing an object with “lo”, “la”, “los”, “las”, “le” or “les”, and putting the…“Saber” or “conocer”Using “saber” for facts, information and skills, and “conocer” for being acquainted with…“Voy a menudo”: where the adverb goesPlacing “siempre”, “nunca”, “ya”, “todavía”, “a menudo” and “casi” where Spanish puts…“Ser” or “estar”: two verbs for one “to be”Choosing between “ser” and “estar” in everyday sentences: who you are and what you are…The rule, in three lines
With parts of the body and clothes, Spanish uses the ARTICLE and not the possessive, because the pronoun already says whose it is: me duele la cabeza, me lavo las manos, ponte el abrigo. The possessive comes back when there is no pronoun to carry the information: su casa, mi coche.
The usual slip. Translating the possessive across: me duele mi cabeza, me lavo mis manos — grammatical, and unmistakably foreign.
Why it catches you out. English has nothing else to work with, so it must say “my hands”. Spanish already put you in the pronoun “me”, so adding “mis” says it twice — and it lands as if you were insisting that the hands are yours and not somebody else's.