hurt your leg

Meaning

This phrase means to cause physical pain or injury to your leg through an accident, fall, or strenuous activity. In English, we typically use possessive adjectives (my, your, his, her) rather than the definite article 'the' when talking about injuring our own body parts.

Examples

• Be careful on those icy stairs; you don't want to hurt your leg.

  Be careful on those icy stairs; you don't want to hurt your leg.

• I can't go running with you today because I hurt my leg yesterday.

  I can't go running with you today because I hurt my leg yesterday.

• Did you hurt your leg when you fell off your bicycle?

  Did you hurt your leg when you fell off your bicycle?

• He had to sit out of the soccer game after he hurt his leg.

  He had to sit out of the soccer game after he hurt his leg.

• She was limping at work because she hurt her leg during a hike.

  She was limping at work because she hurt her leg during a hike.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ I hurt the leg during the football match.

  ✓ I hurt my leg during the football match.

  In English, we use possessive pronouns (my, your, his, her) instead of articles (the) for body parts when we are the ones affected.

• ✗ My leg is hurting me.

  ✓ My leg hurts.

  While 'hurting me' is occasionally heard, B1 learners should focus on the simpler, more natural 'my leg hurts' or 'I hurt my leg' to describe an injury.

Related Expressions

Practice

• If you jump from that high wall, you might ___.

  💡 Injure one of your lower limbs.

  Show answer

  hurt your leg

• Why are you limping? Did you ___ during the game?

  💡 Cause injury to your lower limb.

  Show answer

  hurt your leg