아파요 (Apayo): How to Say Hurt in Korean

The Word You Land On No Matter What You Search

Search “how to say hurt in Korean.” Then “sick.” Then “aching,” “sore,” “unwell.” You keep hitting the same word: 아파요 a-pa-yo.

Part of the Korean Grammar — Make Sense of It, Not Just Memorize series — start there if you’re new.

That repeat isn’t lazy translation. Korean genuinely doesn’t split pain the way English does. One verb carries your headache, your cold, your sore knee, and your broken heart. So 아파요 is the right first step — it’s the word that gets you understood at a pharmacy on day one.

But here’s the part the dictionary entries skip: 아파요 is the general word, not the precise one. When a Korean wants to say a muscle is deep-aching, a shoulder is catching, or a throat is raw, they reach past 아파요 for a sharper verb. This guide gives you both — the one word that always works, and the four that make you sound like you actually know how it hurts.

Meet 아파요: The Base Pattern

The dictionary form is 아프다 a-peu-da — “to hurt” or “to be sick.” In polite everyday speech it becomes 아파요 a-pa-yo. To say what hurts, you put the body part in front of it:

The verb never changes. Only the body part in front of it changes. English forces a vocabulary switch — hurt, sick, sore, aching — depending on the body part. Korean doesn’t make that demand at the basic level. Same verb, four very different problems:

That last one is worth pausing on. Korean does not switch to a poetic register for emotional pain. 마음 maeum means “heart” or “mind” — the place that hurts when bad news lands — and the verb is still plain 아파요. The language treats physical and emotional pain as the same continuous thing. There’s no separate “heartbreak” verb to learn.

Why 이 or 가 Sits Before 아파요

The small word between the body part and 아파요 is a subject marker. It tells the sentence what the pain is about — the part that hurts. The choice depends on one thing: how the body-part word ends.

• Ends in a consonant → use 이 i. So 무릎 mu-reup (knee) ends in the consonant ㅍ, giving 무릎이 아파요 mu-reup-i a-pa-yo.
• Ends in a vowel → use 가 ga. So 머리 meori (head) ends in a vowel, giving 머리가 아파요 meori-ga a-pa-yo.

These markers 이/가 i/ga show up in hundreds of everyday sentences, not just pain. You already know them in one real context now. → 이/가 (i/ga): How Korean Subject Markers Work

Past 아파요: The Pain-Verb Map Nobody Teaches

Here’s where most “how to say hurt in Korean” pages stop — and where this one gets useful. Koreans don’t actually say 아파요 for every kind of pain. The general word is fine, but a stiff shoulder, a raw throat, and a pounding bruise each have their own verb. Reach for the right one and a pharmacist instantly knows what to hand you.

None of these are exotic or formal. They’re the words a Seoul grandmother uses about her knees and a teenager uses about a sunburn. The difference between them is the kind of pain, not the politeness level.

Two contrasts trip up almost every learner, so let’s draw the lines clearly.

쑤셔요 versus 욱신거려요. Both are deep pains, but the rhythm is different. 쑤셔요 ssu-syeo-yo is the steady, dull ache that spreads through your muscles when you have the flu — it just aches. 욱신거려요 uk-sin-geo-ryeo-yo has a pulse to it, like your heartbeat is hitting the sore spot. A bruise you just got throbs (욱신거려요); your whole body during a fever aches (쑤셔요).

따가워요 versus 쓰려요. Both can feel “burning,” but the location is the giveaway. 따가워요 tta-ga-wo-yo is on the surface — the raw sting of a sore throat, a scrape, a sunburn, the dab of antiseptic. 쓰려요 sseu-ryeo-yo is inside — the burn of an empty stomach or the morning after too much spicy food. Skin stings (따가워요); a stomach burns (쓰려요).

At the Pharmacy: Answering 어디가 아프세요?

Walk into a Korean pharmacy (약국 yak-guk) feeling unwell and the first question is almost always the same. Notice it’s not 아파요 — it’s the honorific form, because they’re asking about you:

You don’t need perfect grammar to answer. Name the spot, name the type of pain, and you’re already most of the way there. Here’s how a short, realistic exchange runs:

Two small words do a lot of work there. -고 -go means “and,” so 따갑고 콧물이 나요 stacks two symptoms in one breath. And 어제부터 eo-je-bu-teo means “since yesterday” — pairing it with past tense 아팠어요 tells the pharmacist how long it’s been. That single detail often decides which medicine you walk out with.

A few more answers you can lift straight into real life, each picking the precise verb over plain 아파요:

That word 지끈지끈 ji-kkeun-ji-kkeun is a sound-effect word for a throbbing headache — Korean loves these little repeating “mimetic” words, and dropping one in makes you sound like a local describing a headache, not reading a textbook.

When 아파요 Doesn’t Quite Work

Honest blogs admit the edges, so here are two places the simple picture bends.

The precise verbs don’t cross into feelings. 마음이 아파요 works for a hurting heart, but you can’t say 마음이 쑤셔요 or 마음이 따가워요 — those sharp-pain verbs are strictly physical. For emotions, plain 아파요 is the only one that fits.

You can stack 아파요 onto the others for emphasis. Korean often pairs a specific descriptor with 아파요 rather than dropping it entirely. 머리가 지끈지끈 아파요 keeps 아파요 and just adds the throbbing flavor in front. So you’re rarely choosing between 아파요 and the precise word — more often you’re seasoning 아파요 with it. Beginners can lean on 아파요 alone and add the rest as they grow.

Quick Practice

1. Your knee hurts. How do you say it?

2. Your throat feels raw and scratchy from a cold. Which verb is better than plain 아파요?

3. A pharmacist asks 어디가 아프세요? and you’ve had a pounding headache since this morning. Answer with the timeframe.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to learn 쑤셔요, 결려요, and the rest right away?

No — pace yourself. As a beginner, 아파요 plus the body part covers any emergency: 목이 아파요, 배가 아파요, and you’ll get help. Add the precise verbs once the base feels automatic. A good order is to learn 따가워요 first (sore throats are a very common reason to visit a pharmacy), then 쑤셔요 for flu season, and pick up the others as they come up.

Why did the pharmacist say 아프세요 instead of 아파요?

Because they’re asking about your pain, and Korean raises the politeness when the subject is the listener. The honorific marker -으세요 -eu-se-yo turns 아파요 into 아프세요 a-peu-se-yo, a respectful “are you hurting?” You answer about yourself with plain 아파요 — you don’t honor your own body. This listener-versus-speaker split runs through all of Korean politeness, not just pain words.

What’s the difference between 아파요 and 아팠어요 at a clinic?

아파요 a-pa-yo is “it hurts now”; 아팠어요 a-pa-sseo-yo is “it hurt / has hurt.” At a clinic you usually need both, because the doctor wants to know how long it’s been going on. 어제부터 아팠어요 — “it’s hurt since yesterday” — pairs the past tense with a starting point, and that timeframe is often what decides the diagnosis.

Is 아픕니다 something I’ll ever actually say?

Rarely in daily life. 아픕니다 a-peum-ni-da is the formal-polite register you’d hear in an announcement or a very stiff setting — not at a pharmacy and not with friends. In a normal day, 아파요 is the word, and reaching for 아픕니다 in casual talk actually sounds a little too rigid. Learn it for recognition, not for everyday use.

아파요 Is Your Starting Point, Not Your Ceiling

Lean on 아파요 a-pa-yo from day one — it holds your headache, your stomachache, and your broken heart, and it’ll never leave you stranded at a pharmacy. Then, as you grow, let the precise verbs take over: 쑤셔요 for the deep flu ache, 결려요 for a stiff catch, 따가워요 for a raw sting, 욱신거려요 for a throb. That’s the move from “it hurts” to “here’s exactly how it hurts.”

The natural next step is the subject markers 이/가 i/ga that attach the body part to the verb — they’re in almost every Korean sentence, and you’ve already met them here. → 이/가 (i/ga): How Korean Subject Markers Work

🔧 Practice what you just read: try the free Korean Verb Conjugator — 500 verbs, 12 forms each, with romanization.