Spoken English

How do we talk about health problems in conversational English? Look at the examples below, read the explanations and try the exercise.

Talking about health

MEDIUM PLUS What does it mean?

Here are some common expressions connected with health problems. What do you think the examples mean?

I’m a bit under the weather. You look a bit washed out. My feet are killing me.

I feel a bit achy.

If you have aches or pains or a minor health problem, you often want to tell people about them. Let’s look at different ways of doing this in conversational English.

Aches and pains

Two common words to talk about health problems are ache (a noun or a verb) and pain (usually used as a noun):

I’ve got an ache in my foot.

My arm aches.

I’ve got a pain in my leg.

An ache is a dull, steady pain. It may continue for a long time: if your back aches, for example, it could last for days, months or even years. Some common kinds of ache are used as double nouns; some are written as a single word. If you eat too much, you might have a stomach ache; if you carry heavy furniture, you may get a backache; if you have toothache, you should see a dentist; and an aspirin may help if you have a headache. If you’re hopelessly in love, you may also suffer from heartache.

Another common way to talk about aches and pains is to use the verb hurt: instead of saying “I’ve got a pain in my leg”, you can say “My leg hurts”. Here are some other examples:

Ouch! Stop twisting my arm. It hurts.

(patient to doctor): My finger hurts when I try to bend it.

You can also use the adjective sore. If a part of your body is sore, it’s often red and inflamed:

I think I’m getting a cold. I woke up this morning with a sore throat.

My feet were sore after walking all day. To talk about general health problems, you can use I feel...: I feel hot / cold.

I feel shivery. (= I’m shaking with cold.)

I feel achy. (= I’ve got aches in various places.) I feel exhausted / worn out. (= I’m very tired.)

Or you can use expressions with I’ve got a/an...:

I’ve got a cold.

I’ve got flu. (= influenza)

I’ve got a temperature. (= a high temperature, above 37.5 °C)

Idiomatic expressions

If you feel under the weather, you feel ill and tired:

What’s the matter?

— I’m not sure. I’m just feeling a bit under the weather. You could also say you’re not your usual (or normal) self:

I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m just not my usual self today.

If you feel washed out, you have no energy:

I’m feeling completely washed out. I think I’ll go lie down. If you’re down in the dumps, you feel depressed:

What’s up? You seem to be down in the dumps.

If your feet are killing you, they ache or hurt when you walk:

I can’t walk any further. My feet are killing me.

Exercise

Complete the sentences below with words from the list. dumps | hurts | self | sore | stomach | temperature

A. My hand when I move it.

B. I don’t want to eat anything. I’ve got a ache.

C. I feel hot. Maybe I’ve got a . D. I feel down in the today.

E. If you’ve got a throat, it may help to drink hot lemon juice and honey.

F. I’m worried about him. He hasn’t been his normal for weeks.