French Lesson | Nirécol

Doctor visits and symptoms

Explain simple symptoms, answer basic medical questions, and understand common advice.

Talk about health and interaction in short complete French rather than isolated words.
Use symptom description and simple advice language to add one clear detail about health and interaction without losing control.
Complete one reading task, one guided speaking answer, and one short written reply built from the same health and interaction lesson frame.

Restaurant problems and polite complaints

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At the doctor's: describing symptoms over time with depuis, understanding the examination, and decoding the ordonnance.

Grammar focus: Health: describing symptoms and understanding advice. Work through the explanations and tables below, hear the structures in the dialogue, then lock them in with the interactive drills, the writing task, and the speaking task.

Grammar focus

Health: describing symptoms and understanding advice

At the doctor's or pharmacy, two frames do most of the work: avoir mal à + body part (J'ai mal à la tête) and se sentir + adverb/adjective (Je me sens fatigué). The à contracts as usual: au ventre, aux jambes.

Symptoms and remedies

J'ai de la fièvre (I have a fever), je tousse (I cough), j'ai pris froid (I caught a cold), je suis allergique à… The pharmacist will answer with advice frames you now know: Vous devriez vous reposer. Prenez ce médicament deux fois par jour.

Avoir mal à + body

French	English
J'ai mal à la tête.	I have a headache.
J'ai mal au ventre.	My stomach hurts.
J'ai mal à la gorge.	I have a sore throat.
J'ai mal au dos.	My back hurts.
J'ai mal aux dents.	I have a toothache.
Elle a de la fièvre.	She has a fever.

Examples

J'ai mal à la gorge depuis deux jours.I have had a sore throat for two days.
Il a mal au dos.His back hurts.
Je me sens très fatigué cette semaine.I feel very tired this week.
Elle a de la fièvre, elle reste au lit.She has a fever; she is staying in bed.
Prenez ce médicament trois fois par jour.Take this medicine three times a day.
Vous êtes allergique à quelque chose ?Are you allergic to anything?

Watch out

Using avoir + adjective for states: « J'ai malade ».

Je suis malade (state) but j'ai mal à… (pain).

Malade is an adjective with être; mal is a noun with avoir.

Forgetting the contraction: « mal à le ventre ».

mal au ventre, mal aux jambes.

à + le/les always contracts, in every context.

Saying « depuis » with the passé composé for ongoing pain: « J'ai eu mal depuis lundi ».

Ongoing state → present: J'ai mal depuis lundi.

If the pain continues now, French keeps the present tense.

Grammar and usage

Symptom language at A2 becomes more useful when each sentence separates the problem, the moment it started, and the help you need now.
Short explanation plus follow-up question usually works better than one overloaded medical sentence.
This lesson should also help you understand advice language and practical next steps after the appointment.

Pronunciation

Keep symptom words slow enough that the listener does not confuse one body part or feeling with another.
Read one question for the doctor and one answer about your symptoms as full lines, not isolated fragments.
Use pauses to separate what hurts, since when, and what you need.

Vocabulary

la douleur
pain
le médicament
medicine
le médecin
doctor
la pharmacie
pharmacy
écoute
listen
message
message
détail
detail
indice
clue
avec
with
sans
without
d'abord
first
ensuite
then
souvent
often
ensemble
together
parce que
because
tout de suite
right away

Dialogue

Le médecin

Bonjour. Alors, qu'est-ce qui vous amène ?

Hello. So, what brings you here?

Maya

Je tousse beaucoup depuis une semaine et je suis très fatiguée.

I have been coughing a lot for a week and I am very tired.

Le médecin

Vous avez de la fièvre ?

Do you have a fever?

Maya

Oui, 38,5 hier soir. Et j'ai mal à la gorge quand j'avale.

Yes, 38.5 last night. And my throat hurts when I swallow.

Le médecin

Je vais vous examiner. Respirez fort… Toussez… Très bien.

I am going to examine you. Breathe deeply… Cough… Very good.

Le médecin

C'est une bronchite. Je vous prescris un sirop et du repos.

It is bronchitis. I am prescribing you a syrup and rest.

Maya

Je dois rester chez moi combien de temps ?

How long do I have to stay home?

Le médecin

Trois jours. Voici votre ordonnance et l'arrêt de travail.

Three days. Here is your prescription and the sick note.

Reading

Guided reading: Doctor visits and symptoms

Le langage de la sante en A2 reste pratique et limite. Il permet de décrire un problème simple, de dire depuis quand il dure, de comprendre une recommandation et de suivre une petite demarche à la pharmacie ou chez le médecin.

L’écoute débutante demande un objectif simple : attraper l’idée générale, puis un détail. Chercher tous les mots en même temps fatigue vite. Un ou deux indices bien choisis donnent déjà une meilleure entrée dans la suite de la leçon.

Dans cette scène, l'apprenant avance pas à pas autour de health et interaction. Il relit les expressions la douleur, le médicament, le médecin, la pharmacie et il les replace dans une situation très simple pour comprendre comment les mots servent dans un vrai échange.

What can A2 health language help a learner do?
Why does health language stay practical and limited at this level?
What is the first goal during beginner listening?
Why is it tiring to chase every word at once?

Practice studio

Turn this lesson into active recall: drill the vocabulary with spaced repetition, then test yourself on meaning and comprehension.

Writing task

Keep the response short but complete: start clearly, add one detail, and end with one useful closing or follow-up line.

0 words0 / 16 target words used

la douleur
le médicament
le médecin
la pharmacie
écoute
message
détail
indice
avec
sans
d'abord
ensuite
souvent
ensemble
parce que
tout de suite

Speaking task

Keep the response short but complete: start clearly, add one detail, and end with one useful closing or follow-up line.

Practice and drills

Pattern transfer

Take the model « Elle a de la fièvre, elle reste au lit. » (She has a fever; she is staying in bed.) and change one detail — person, place, time, or object — so the sentence is true for you. Keep the structure intact.
Take the model « Je me sens très fatigué cette semaine. » (I feel very tired this week.) and change one detail — person, place, time, or object — so the sentence is true for you. Keep the structure intact.
Take the model « Vous êtes allergique à quelque chose ? » (Are you allergic to anything?) and change one detail — person, place, time, or object — so the sentence is true for you. Keep the structure intact.
Write your adapted sentences down, then read each one aloud twice: once slowly for accuracy, once at natural speed.

Dialogue work

Read the dialogue « Chez le médecin » aloud, taking one role; switch roles on the second pass.
Hide the French side and rebuild each line from the English translation, then compare with the original.
Pick the two most useful lines of the dialogue and memorize them as ready-made blocks.

Production

Do the writing task below in one sitting, without a dictionary on the first draft; allow yourself one revision pass afterwards.
Record yourself doing the speaking task, listen once, and redo only the sentence that broke down.
Compare your output against the answer key, then read the corrected versions aloud once so the repair becomes active.

Answer key

Exercise 1: sens — Je me sens très fatigué cette semaine.
Exercise 2: par — Prenez ce médicament trois fois par jour.
Exercise 3: au — Il a mal au dos.
Exercise 4: de la — Elle a de la fièvre, elle reste au lit.
Exercise 5: allergique — Vous êtes allergique à quelque chose ?
Exercise 6: à la — J'ai mal à la gorge depuis deux jours.
Quiz — What is « une ordonnance »? → A prescription. L'ordonnance is the paper the doctor writes for the pharmacy; l'arrêt de travail is the sick note.
Quiz — Why does the doctor use « depuis une semaine » with the present tense (« je tous… → The coughing started a week ago and continues now. Depuis + present = ongoing state. French keeps the present where English uses « have been coughing ».
Quiz — How do you say “pain” in French? → la douleur. « la douleur » means “pain”.
Quiz — Pick the French for “pharmacy”. → la pharmacie. « la pharmacie » means “pharmacy”.

Common mistakes and repair

Using avoir + adjective for states: « J'ai malade ».

Je suis malade (state) but j'ai mal à… (pain).

Malade is an adjective with être; mal is a noun with avoir.

Forgetting the contraction: « mal à le ventre ».

mal au ventre, mal aux jambes.

à + le/les always contracts, in every context.

Saying « depuis » with the passé composé for ongoing pain: « J'ai eu mal depuis lundi ».

Ongoing state → present: J'ai mal depuis lundi.

If the pain continues now, French keeps the present tense.

Review and next steps

Health: describing symptoms and understanding advice — watch for: Using avoir + adjective for states: « J'ai malade ». Fix: Je suis malade (state) but j'ai mal à… (pain).
Before the next lesson, rebuild « J'ai mal à la gorge depuis deux jours. » from its English (I have had a sore throat for two days.) without looking, then check every ending and accent.
Second check — Forgetting the contraction: « mal à le ventre ». Fix: mal au ventre, mal aux jambes.

Coaching notes

Prepare one calm opening sentence for a doctor or pharmacy interaction before you improvise more detail.
After the task, rewrite one symptom explanation more clearly instead of making it longer.
Keep one practical advice phrase from the answer key for future service or health situations.

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