Grupo Básico Español – lección veintiuno

Grupo Básico Español – lección veintiuno

Buenos días señores y señoras. Bienvenidos a la lección veintiuno de la clase de español.

La próxima semana iré a Tenerife para unas vacaciones de sol, así que no habrá lecciones.

Homework

I have a headache. It is very bad.	Tengo dolor de cabeza. Es muy mal.
I think that I have the flu.	Creo que tengo la gripe
I feel very depressed.	Me siento muy deprimido/a
My knee hurts. I fell in the bathroom.	Me duele la rodilla. Me caí en el baño.
I have a headache. I cannot see.	Tengo dolor de cabeza. No puedo ver.
My ear hurts.  It is my right ear.	Me duele la oreja. Es la oreja derecha.
I have sunburn. I cannot sleep.	Tengo quemadura de sol. No puedo dormir Tienes un bronceado (suntan)
I have a sore throat and a cough.	Tengo dolor de garganta y tos.
I think I have a temperature.	Creo que tengo una temperatura. Creo que tengo fiebre.
My feet are sore.	Me duelen los pies
I have a cut on my foot, I cannot walk.	Tengo un corte en el pie, no puedo caminar.
I have been stung by a jellyfish. It is very painful.	Me ha picado una medusa. Es muy doloroso. Tengo una picadura de medusa.
I think I have the flu. I need some medicine.	Creo que tengo la gripe. Necesito un medicamento (medicina)
I have a rash on my back.	Tengo una erupción en la espalda. Sarpullido - heat rash
Am I going to be better tomorrow? I'm going to a party.	¿Voy a estar mejor mañana? Voy a una fiesta.

Xisca video. https://youtu.be/hduB__lExz8

There were some new useful phrases in there. Asking where things are (in this case the pharmacy). ¿Por dónde está la farmacia más cercana? – that sentence can be adapted for anything from museums to bus stations. I’d start the conversation with Disculpe señor/señora just to be polite.

We learned how to tell the doctor how long we had been ill – Me duele el estómago desde hace doce horas … You could also say desde anoche or desde ayer.

Tengo asma – I have asthma

Soy asmatica/o – I am asthmatic

Tengo diabetes – I have diabetes

Soy diabético – I am diabetic

Tengo colesterol alto – I have high cholesterol

How would you say: my wife is diabetic - Mi esposa es diabética

My husband is asthmatic - Mi marido es asmático

If you want to say you are dizzy, it’s estoy mareada/o

Note that we’re using estar to describe how we’re feeling, while we used ser when we were talking about being asthmatic or diabetic - ¿por qué?

How would you say: I feel dizzy - Me siento mareada/o

My husband feels dizzy - Mi esposo se siente mareado

Me duele cuando trago – it hurts when I swallow

Tengo indigestión – I have indigestion

Tengo acidez estomacal – I have heartburn

Drugs

Aspirina – aspirin

Paracetamol – paracetamol

Ibuprofeno – ibruprofen

Gotas para los ojos – eye-drops

Protector solar – sun screen (factor de alta protección solar)

Bronceador – sun-tan lotion

Crema antiséptica – Germoline or Savlon

Las curitas – Band Aid/plasters.

Those are the medicines, how should we use them?

Uso cutáneo – for the skin, rub it in.

Vía oral – by mouth, swallow them.

Para niños a partir de 5 años – for children older than 5 years. Partir is to part or cut.

Mantener fuera de la vista y del alcance de los niños – keep out of sight and reach of children

Do you know what these words mean - all are types of medicine?

Las pastillas, los comprimidos y las tabletas are all words for tablets.

El jarabe is a syrup

El ungüento y la pomada are words for ointment

La crema is a cream (you also see gel used now)

Las gotas are drops

El sobre is a sachet, you may see the medicine described as granulado.

How will you take them? I’m going to tell you how to take your medicine. What am I saying? Will you survive?

¿Cómo se toma esta medicina?

Las cucharadas are spoonfuls. Por ejemplo: Tome una cucharada, tres veces al día.

Frótelo means to rub it. Por ejemplo: Frótelo en la espalda.

Masticar means to chew. Por ejemplo: Mastique una tableta después de las comidas.

Tomar means to take and Deber means you should. Por ejemplo: Debe tomar una tableta antes de las comidas.

A quick look at the imperative form:

Frote is the imperative form of the verb frotar (to rub), lo means it and is hooked on the back of the imperative. Imperatives are a bit of a curly ball for inexperienced conjugators like us. There’s a whole new list of verb forms to use if you want to start telling people what to do.

Holly knows the imperative form of venir

My dog understands this.

The verb 'to come' is venir. You come (informal) is vienes, however, if you want to tell someone to come you don’t say vienes, you have to use the imperative, which in this case, is ven.

The verb to buy is comprar. You buy (informal) is compras and to ask your friend if they are buying it, you’d say: ¿lo compras? If you want to tell your friend to buy it (eg that skirt suits you, but it - esa falda te conviene, cómpralo) you would use the imperative, which is compra. When using the imperative you can hook the pronoun on the end so cómpralo means “buy it”. To add a further complication, there is often a different conjugation when telling someone not to do something. Por ejemplo, don’t buy it is: no lo compres. It’s a different verb form and you have to put the pronoun before the verb.

With the imperative tense, it is best just to learn the ones you need, as you need them. I use ven aca with my dog very often, but I never tell her no vengas aca (don’t come here) – she does that all by herself.

Unless you’re really bossy, you won’t need to learn too many imperatives and if you do use the present tense instead, you’ll still be understood. They’ll know you’re not a native Spanish speaker, but they will have probably worked that out already!

Let´s have a look at some more useful phrases.

                                                                                        

Llamen una ambulancia  - call an ambulance (from llamar – to call and this is also the imperative – you formal plural).

¿Debo hacer una cita? – do I need to make an appointment

Me siento un fuerte dolor aquí – I feel a sharp pain here.

Estoy constipado/a – I’m constipated. ¿Cuánto tiempo hace que usas el baño? You might answer: Desde hace tres días.

Está sangrando mucho – it is bleeding a lot.

Can we remember how to say I fell? Me caí.

Some use of the past tense:

Me lastimé – I hurt myself. Se lastimó – he/she hurt himself/herself – use more description to make it clear. Por ejemplo: Ella se lastimó (She hurt herself), but you still need the pronoun.

Me torcí la muñenca – I twisted my wrist. How would you say I twisted my ankle? Me torcí el tobillo.

Me rompí la pierna.

Me corté – I cut myself. How would you say: it is bleeding a lot? Está sangrando mucho.

Some more problems

Tengo escalofríos – I have chills.

Tengo la presión alta – I have high blood pressure. How would you say: I have low blood pressure? Tengo la presión baja.

What´s the word for ear? Oreja. There’s another word for ear when you’re talking about inside your ear or hearing: it’s oído. Creo que tengo una infección del oído.

Creo que tengo una infección urinaria – urinary tract infection

Creo que tengo una infección vaginal – a yeast infection

Creo que tengo una infección de la vejiga – bladder infection.

You might need to tell a doctor about past/ongoing problems. To do this you need to use the perfect tense (an action that happened in the past but has not finished) … In English, we say “I have had”, in Spanish it’s “he tenido”. What do these sentences mean?

He tenido problemas del corazón – heart problems

He tenido problemas del hígado - liver

He tenido problemas renales - kidney

He tenido problemas respiratorios – breathing/lung.

Allergies:

To say you are allergic, it is: Soy alérgico …

Soy alérgico a la penicilina - penicillin

Soy alérgico a los mariscos - shellfish

Soy alérgico a los cacahuates/al maní or a las nueces – to peanuts/nuts

Soy alérgico al polen – to pollen (además: tengo fiebre del heno)

Soy alérgico a las picaduras de abeja – bee stings

What are you taking?

You may already be taking some medicine. Estoy tomando … (I am taking).

It’s a good idea to learn these before going abroad. I learn:

Estoy tomando medicamentos para la presión arterial alta

Here are some others

Estoy tomando analgésicos - painkillers

Estoy tomando antibióticos - antibiotics

Estoy tomando antiestamínicos - antihistamines

Estoy tomando aspirinas - aspirin

Estoy tomando pastillas anticonceptivas – the pill.

Estoy tomando bloqueadores beta – beta blockers

Estoy tomando estatinas – statins

Payments:

Be sure to take your European Health Card with you. It may be useless after March 29, of course.

¿Cuánto es por la consulta? – how much for the consultation?

Necesito un recibo para mi compañía de seguros – I need a receipt for my insurance company.

We are leaving behind Chapter 8 of Sueños. We have learned how to describe people,  we have seen the doctor and we have talked about medicines. Let’s finish the chapter with a few final exercises.

When describing people or their symptoms, we have used both “to be” verbs – ser y estar. We use ser for physical descriptions and character; we use estar for describing a temporary physical state or mood.

In the exercises sheet, write the correct verb and correct conjugation is the space

Small differences - Have to v Should do

Tengo que and Deber can both be used to say what ought to happen, but there’s a subtle difference:

Tengo que means I have to, so use Tener + que + infinitive to say that you (or someone else) has to do something. Tienes que hacer tu tarea esta noche – you have to do your homework tonight.

Deber means ‘should do’ or ‘ought to’ in the sense of duty, so use Deber + infinitive to advise someone what they should do. Debes hacer tu tarea esta noche.

Tienes que quedarte en la cama – you have to stay in bed.

Debes descansar más – you should rest more.