Doler Conjugation: Free Spanish Lesson, Quiz, and PDF

It wouldn’t hurt to learn about doler conjugation!

The Spanish verb doler means “to hurt,” “to grieve,” and “to ache.” 

Doler conjugation is mostly irregular, this means it changes completely depending on the pronoun and tense. 

Today, we’ll learn doler conjugation in three moods:

• indicative mood (present, past, past imperfect, conditional, and future)
• subjunctive mood (present, present perfect, past, and past perfect)
• and the imperative mood. 

I added the pronoun vosotros for this doler conjugation in Spanish guide. It is used exclusively in Spain but it is better to consider it just in case.

The Ultimate Guide to Doler Conjugation

There may be tenses you are not familiar with in this complete overview of the doler conjugation. But don’t you worry! With enough practice you will be able to remember all of them. I included some exercises at the end of this post just for you! 

Doler Conjugation: Verbals

For these doler conjugations, there are two forms of the verb doler that you need to learn.

1. Conjugation of haber + past participle of doler
2. Conjugation of estar + gerund form of doler

The infinitive form of the verb is doler.
The past participle of doler is dolido.
The gerund form of doler is doliendo.

These compound tenses involve using the helping verbs haber and estar. The conjugation changes in these tenses happen within the helping verbs, while the form of the verb doler stays the same. 

Let’s see them in action…

No te debería doler.
It shouldn’t hurt.

Me está doliendo.
It is hurting.

Me había dolido que me dejara de hablar.
I was hurt that he stopped talking to me. 

Doler has a Reflexive Conjugation Just Like Gustar

Remember that doler, just like gustar, has a reflexive conjugation. That means that it is almost always accompanied by one of the next words: me, te, le, nos, os, les. We use them to indicate to whom the verb is happening:

A mí me duele.
It hurts me.

Since you can deduce to whom it is hurting from the word me, you can omit a mí:

Me duele.
It hurts me.

¡Conjuguemos!
Let’s conjugate!

Doler Conjugation: Indicative Mood

Present simple

In present tense, you are entailing that what is hurting your or others is currently happening. This Spanish conjugation along with the past tense are the most common of the verb doler. 

Notice in the chart below that I am adding the ustedes conjugation. This pronoun is used widely in Latinamerica and it replaces the pronoun vosotros used only in Spain. 

Technically, this is the correct present tense conjugation, it doesn’t make any sense unless you are saying how much someone is hurt by the memory of someone else –me dueles-. We don’t use the verb doler in this sense. So I wrote this lesson with conjugations that are most commonly used like a mí me duele (it hurts me). This happens with every tense, that’s why conjugations are similar in each one. See the next example:

Present simple

Cocinamos tanto que nos duelen las manos.
We cooked so much, our hands hurt.

¿Les duelen los oídos también?
Do your ears ache too?

A vosotros os duele la cabeza.
Your heads hurt.

Me duele que pienses mal de mí
It hurts that you think ill of me.

Past Simple

You will come across with the words preterite or preterite Spanish conjugation quite often. It simply means past tense conjugation in Spanish. You use it to describe something that used to hurt because it has already happened. 

Me dolió perder su amistad.
It was hurtful to lose his friendship.

Nos dolieron los brazos después de nadar.
Our arms hurt after swimming. 

A vosotros os dolió su muerte.
You grieved over her death.

A ella le dolió saber la verdad.
It hurt her to know the truth.

Past Imperfect

The doler imperfect conjugation is perfect to describe something that used to happen continuously and more than one time. It could happen sporadically or systematically.

Me dolía la cabeza de tanto ver tele.
My head hurt from watching too much TV.

Te dolían los pies después de correr.
Your feet hurt after running.

A ella le dolía el hombro, así que fue al doctor.
Her shoulder hurt, so she went to see the doctor.

A vosotros os dolía no poder ir.
It hurt you not being able to go.

Conditional

A vosotros os dolerían los codos de haber caído.
Your elbows would be hurting if you had fallen. 

Te dolerían las manos si no hubieras usado guantes.
Your hands would hurt if you hadn’t had your gloves on.

A Ramón le dolería todo el cuerpo sino fuera por el masaje.
Ramón’s whole body would hurt if it weren’t for the massage.

No sabía que te dolería verme.
I didn’t know that it would hurt you to see me.

Future Simple

Me dolerá si me miente.
I will get hurt if she lies to me.

A ellos les dolerá cuando se enteren.
They will get hurt when they find out.

Te dolerá menos si te quitas el curita rápido.
It will hurt less if you take the band-aid off quickly.

Os dolerá haberme perdido.
It will hurt you to have lost me.

Doler Conjugation: Subjunctive Mood

We use the subjunctive conjugation to talk about hypotheses, hopes, wishes, or uncertainty.

Present Subjunctive

No te muevas para que no te duela.
Don’t move so it doesn’t hurt.

Susana espera que no nos duela la vacuna.
Susana hopes the vaccine doesn’t hurt.

Quiero que no me duela.
I don’t want it to hurt.

Ojalá que os duela a vosotros más que a mí.
I hope it hurts you more than it hurts me. 

Past Subjunctive

Intenté que no me doliera pero no lo logré.
I tried not to feel hurt but I failed.

Si no te doliesen los dedos podrías tocar el piano.
If your fingers didn’t hurt, you could play piano.

Si a Simón le doliera verla, no habría ido a la fiesta. 
If it hurt Simón to see her, he wouldn’t have gone to the party.

Quise que no os doliese pero fue inevitable.
I wanted it not to hurt but it was inevitable.

Past Perfect Subjunctive

For the past perfect subjunctive tense, we use the auxiliary verb haber and the past participle of the verb doler.

Si les hubiera dolido, no estarían aquí.
If it had hurt them, they wouldn’t be here.

Os hubiese dolido más de no haber practicado.
It would have hurt more if you hadn’t practiced.

Me hubiese dolido menos si no me hubieras gritado
It would have hurt less if you hadn’t yelled at me.

A ellas les hubiera dolido que sus novios no fueran honestos.
It would have hurt them that their boyfriends weren’t honest.

Present Perfect Subjunctive

For the perfect subjunctive tense we use the auxiliary verb haber and the past participle of the verb doler.

Da igual que les haya dolido.
It doesn’t matter if they were hurt.

No te importó que me haya dolido.
You didn’t care that it hurt me.

Que os haya dolido no os ha detenido.
The fact that it has hurt you, hasn’t stopped you.

Another subjunctive tense exists: future. Since it is rarely used, I am not including it in this lesson. 

Doler Conjugation: Imperative Mood

The imperative mood is used to give commands. 

Although this is the correct conjugation of the imperative mood, it is rarely used since you can’t order someone to hurt. But I added it to have complete charts of all the tenses. 

Let’s practice!

Doler Conjugation Exercises

Check your understanding of doler conjugation with the following exercises! Be sure to check each answer with the answer key below. ¡Buena suerte!

Exercise 1

Identify the tense of each doler conjugation.

1. Te hubiese dolido

2. Nos duele

3. Me duele

4. Les dolerá

5. Le haya dolido

Exercise 2

Conjugate doler in the tense given.

1. Usted – Past Simple

2. Ellas – Conditional

3. Tú – Past Imperfect

4. Nosotros – Present Simple

5. Yo – Past Subjunctive

Exercise 3

Fill in the blank with the correct form of doler.

1. A vosotros os _____________la muñeca. ( present simple)

2. A ella le ha _____________ lo que le dijo su hermana. (past participle)

3. Espero que no me _____________ la inyección. (present subjunctive)

4. No te duermas tan tarde, te _____________ la cabeza. (future simple)

5. ¿No les  _____________ la cabeza? (past imperfect)

Exercise 4

Translate the following sentences to English.

1. Si no te doliesen los dedos podrías tocar el piano. 

2. ¿Les duelen los oídos también?

3. Te dolían los pies después de correr.

4. Susana espera que no nos duela la vacuna.

5. A ellas les hubiera dolido que sus novios no fueran honestos.

6. A vosotros os dolía su partida.

Click here to see the answer key!

See Yourself Speaking Spanish!

Congratulations! You’ve learned about doler conjugation in Spanish and uses of the verb doler. If you want to continue practicing, I suggest you take lessons from our native Spanish-speaking teachers that are here to help you. Ask them about when and how to use each doler conjugation, which tips are most important to memorize each tense, and how to best learn to speak Spanish fully. Boost your Spanish proficiency by engaging in real-life conversations of your choosing. Let’s tailor together a Spanish package just for you. Sign up today for a free class! 

Ready to learn more Spanish grammar? Check these out!

• All About Adverbial Clauses in Spanish
• The Ultimate Guide to the Differences Between ‘Pero’ and ‘Sino’ in Spanish
• A Guide to Double Negatives in Spanish
• Ver Conjugation: Free Spanish Lesson, Exercises, and PDF
• Common Irregular Informal Commands in Spanish
• Dialect vs Accent: Is It a Language, Dialect, or Accent?
• How to Use the Past Participle as an Adjective in Spanish
• Punctuation Marks, Special Characters, and Other Symbols in Spanish

Answer Key

Exercise 1

1. Past Perfect Subjunctive

2. Present simple

3. Present Subjunctive

4. Future Simple

5. Present Perfect Subjunctive 

Exercise 2

1. Dolió / dolieron

2. Dolería / dolerían

3. Dolía / dolían

4. Duele / duelen

5. Doliera / dolieran or doliese / doliesen

Exercise 3

1. Duele

2. Dolido

3. Duela

4. Dolerá

5. Dolía

Exercise 4 

1. If your fingers didn’t hurt, you could play piano.

2. Do your ears hurt too?

3. Your feet hurt after running.

4. Susana hopes the vaccine doesn’t hurt.

5. It would have hurt them that their boyfriends weren’t honest.

6. His departure used to hurt you

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Nicole Canún

Freelance Writer at Homeschool Spanish Academy

Blogger, content creator, and marketer. Proudly Mexican. Been to 30 countries. I love learning from different cultures and trying their cuisines. Obsessed with Asia. Fluent in Spanish and English, not so much in French.

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