J'ai eu un mal de tête hire soir

 J'ai eu un mal de tête hire soir! 

Meaning: I had a bad headache last night.  

In that sentence I used past tense (passé composé in french).  Also, when one says they are not feeling well at a specific location on the body the verb avoir is used. Otherwise, for just stating that one is sick the verb etre is used.

 If you are a beginner or have had little exposure to french the subjects for french verbs are; je-I, tu-you(in formal), il/elle- he/she, nous-we, vous-you(formal), ils/elles- they 

Example: 

Verb: Etre (to be)

Je suis - I am                nous sommes - We are       

tu es - You are              vous  êtes  - You are            

il/elle est - he/she is      ils/elles sont - They are

Ex. Je suis malade - I am sick
Ils sont malade - They are sick etc.

Verb: Avoir (to have) 

J'ai - I have                   nous avons  - We have        
tu as - You have            vous avez  - You have         
il/elle a  - he/she has     ils/elles ont - They have

Ex. J'ai mal aux genoux - I have sore knees
Vous avez mal au nez - You(formal) have a sore nose

Yes, in french it actually translates back to english that they have sickness in the leg(or whatever bodypart).  This verb is also used when giving your age. I always thought you would use the verb etre to tell your age because in english we say, I am 29 years old.  However, in french they use the verb avoir and it translates as I have 25 years -J'ai vingt-neuf ans.

Also, in the french statement J'ai eu un mal de tête hire soir, the  J'ai eu identifies it as something that has happened in the past.  There are different ways to say things have happened in the past.  However, I will just explain the way that I used it because it is a little advanced.  J'ai eu is passé composé(past tense) form and means I had/got.  For the other articles you tag the eu after the subject and avoir like so:

J'ai eu I had                      nous avons eu  We had
tu as eu You had               vous avez eu  You had
il/elle a eu he/she had      ils/elles ont eu  They had

Important sidenote!

One phrase that has a different meaning with the verb avoir and etre is...

J'ai chaud, and Je suis chaud.  Using the verb avoir in the first one statement it translates as, I have heat, meaning that you are hot from the temperature on a sunny day.  The second statement using the verb etre it means that you are either feeling drunk or feeling sexy.  Knowing this can save you some embarassment!

Anyhow, I honestly did have a headache last night.  I am not sure what it was from, although my husband said that he use to get headaches when he was learning english...so maybe it was that!