Beginners 4: Illnesses

Hola a todos, hello everyone, y bienvenidos a Spanish Obsessed. Welcome to Spanish Obsessed. This is our latest beginners podcast, y hoy, como siempre, me acompaña Lis, and today as always, I’m accompanied by Lis, hola Lis, ¿cómo estás?

Yo también estoy muy bien, gracias. y ¿de qué vamos a hablar hoy? [I’m also very good, thanks. And what are we going to talk about today?] And what are we going to talk about today?

Yes today we’re going to talk about illnesses. So, we’re going to start by teaching you a few phrases to describe various kinds of problems or illnesses you might have, then we’re going to have a little conversation using those phrases, which you’ll be able to follow along, and finally we’re going to teach you a few other things which might be wrong. Things like hangovers, or fever, sickness, all of these kinds of things. Ok, but to start with, Lis, how do you say “I’m ill”?

Yes, estoy enferma. And because Lis is a girl, she says “a”, enferma, but a man like me, says estoy enfermo. So a, which is femenine, for a girl, and o, which is masculine, for a man or a boy. Estoy enfermo. What’s another way of saying “I’m ill”?

And if you’re a girl?

Exactly, so it’s the same thing again. Constipada for a girl, constipado for a boy. And this is often a false friend, because constipado sounds like something very similar in English, but it doesn’t mean the same thing at all, it just means “I am ill”, “I have a cold”.

Yeah, I have a cold. Or, what’s another way if it’s a little bit more serious, what can you say?

Yeah, when you have a cold or a flu, a bit more nasty, you say tengo gripa. What’s another way of saying estoy enferma, if you want to make it sound a little bit more cute, for example?

Yeah. Estoy enfermita, or o, estoy enfermito. It’s when you’re not too ill but you just want to make the other person feel sorry for you, you say estoy enfermito, like “oh I’m a little bit ill”.

Yes, exactly. So it means you’re not seriously ill, but you’re just under the weather, I suppose. Ok, so we’re going to have a little conversation, and see if you can follow along. Hola Lis, ¿cómo estás? [Hi Lis, how are you?]

Tienes gripa y estás constipada. Estás muy enfermita. [You have the flu and you’re ill. You’re very ill]

Pobrecita. [Poor you] So, we added a couple more phrases in there, which hopefully you might have been able to guess what they mean, first of all, Lis said me duele la cabeza. What does that mean?

Yes, so me duele means “it hurts”. Me duele algo, something’s hurting me. So me duele.

Yeah, so la cabeza, my head, me duele la cabeza, I have a headache, me duele el estómago, I have a stomach ache, or me duele la espalda, I have a back ache. So cabeza, estómago, y espalda. There’s a few other ways of talking about how you feel bad as well, we’ve got a few more phrases to teach you, maybe you’re not ill, but maybe you don’t feel very good anyway, and we’ve got a few more phrases to cover that, so what’s the first one Lis?

No me siento bien. And what does that mean?

Yeah, I don’t feel very well. No me siento bien. No me siento bien. What else have we got?

Tengo mareo. Do you know what that means?

Lis is learning as well!

Almost, yeah, I feel dizzy. Tengo mareo, I feel dizzy. What’s the next one?

No energy. Tengo flojera. And is that the same for boys and girls, you don’t say tengo flojero if you’re a boy?

No, so everyone tengo flojera

Ok, what’s the next one?

Tengo fiebre. What does that mean?

Yeah, so when you have a high temperature, fiebre is a fever, so tengo fiebre, I have a fever . And the last one.

So two alternatives. Tengo guayabo o tengo resaca. One, tengo guayabo, is used in South America, and tengo resaca is used in Spain. Do you know what it means, Lis?

I think you do…

As Lis…

So as Lis should know, it means a hangover. ¿Tienes resaca, Lis? [Do you have a hangover, Lis?]

Ay, la pobrecita. Poor girl, pobrecita.

And it’s true as well. We’re actually both ill at the moment, so we’re going to have one more conversation, which is completely true, and we’re going to use a few more of these phrases, I hope you can follow along. Hola Lis, ¿cómo estás? [Hi Lis, how are you?]

Me siento un poco mal, no me siento bien. Creo que también estoy un poco constipado, estoy enfermito. Tengo flojera, tengo un poco de mareo, y me duele la cabeza. Estoy un poco mal. Y es verdad. [I feel a little bad, I don’t feel good. I think I’m also a little ill. I feel weak, I’m a little dizzy, and my head hurts. I’m a little bad. And that’s true.] That´s completely true. ¿Qué vamos a hacer? What are we going to do?

Tenemos que tomar algo caliente. So, we have to, tenemos que, drink something hot, tomar algo caliente.

Y tenemos que, we have to, tomar, take, vitamina c, vitamin c. Tenemos que tomar vitamina c.

Y también debemos estar en la casita. And also, debemos, we should, estar, be, en la casita, at home. I agree with that completely. Bueno Lis, yo espero que te sientas mejor, I hope you get better.

Thank you very much, muchas gracias. And, we’ll see all of our listeners at the next podcast. Hasta luego