Welcome back to our “Video & Article” series with tutor Miki. In this article and video, Wasabi Tutor Miki teaches you how to describe when you aren’t feeling so well physically in Japanese. Be it a sore throat or a hurting tummy, learn all kinds of vocabulary and useful phrases in this lesson!
| Table of Contents [Introduction] [Describing Throat Pain] [Describing Headaches] [Describing Stomach Pain] [Going to the Doctor] [Recovering From an Illness] [Vocabulary List] |
[Introduction]
In this lesson, Miki introduces phrases and vocabulary related to feeling ill in Japanese. When you’re not feeling well, it can be hard to describe what’s wrong in a foreign language. Whether you just want to explain what you’re feeling to your friends or co-workers or whether you are about to visit a clinic, Miki has put together a list of useful phrases and vocabulary![Describing Throat Pain]
First, let’s see how to best describe pain in your throat since that is one of the most common and surprisingly painful symptoms of a cold. First of all, “喉 が痛 い” means “My throat hurts. You can also use the onomatopoeia “イガイガ” and say “喉 がイガイガする”, which conveys that something is irritating your throat and feels strange. So the onomatopoeia “イガイガする” is combined with “喉 ” (throat) to describe a state of pain and irritation in your throat. “イガイガ” gives off the image of tiny spiky balls causing discomfort in your throat. なんかのどがイガイガする。 I feel somewhat uncomfortable in my throat.[Describing Headaches]
Next, let’s see how to describe headaches. The easiest way is to say “頭 が痛 い”, which means “My head hurts”, or “I have a headache”. You can also say “頭痛 がする”, which translates more like “I feel a headache”. For headaches, you can also use “ガンガンする” when you want to describe the feeling of a pounding headache. すごい頭 がガンガンする。 I have a strong pounding headache. Be careful though, because when you use “ガンガンする”, you can’t combine it with “頭痛 ”. “頭痛 がガンガンする” doesn’t make any sense. To summarise, for describing headaches, you can try using these three terms: 頭 が痛 い。 My head hurts. 頭痛 がする。 I have a headache. 頭 がガンガンする。 I have a pounding headache.[Describing Stomach Pain]
For the next section, let’s take a look at describing stomach pain. Just like for describing headaches, you can either say the straightforward “お腹 が痛 い”, which means “My stomach hurts”, or you can say “腹痛 がする” which means “I have a stomachache”. To make your description more vivid or specific, you can use the onomatopoeia “キリキリする”, which is often used to describe stinging stomach pain. Casual: めっちゃ胃 がキリキリする。 I feel a strong stinging pain in my stomach. A little more formal: 胃 がすごくキリキリします。 I feel a strong stinging pain in my stomach. By the way, the difference between “胃 ” and “お腹 ” is that “胃 ” is formal and “お腹 ” is casual. That’s we have on the holiday season today. Thank you for reading this article, and please feel free to consult our native Japanese language teachers if you have any further questions! You can also discuss this article on our official “Japanese Learning Group” on Facebook![Going to the Doctor]
Let’s take these sentences to a somewhat more advanced level. Let’s say you want to see a doctor because of stinging pain in your stomach. Going to the doctor to have an illness checked out can be said as “病院 で/医者 に/先生 にみてもらう”. So you have the following options: 病院 でみてもらう。 I’ll have it checked out at a hospital. 医者 にみてもらう。 I’ll see a doctor about it. 先生 にみてもらう。 I’ll see a doctor about it. “病院 ” means hospital or clinic, and “医者 ” means doctor. “先生 ” you’ve probably heard before - it’s an honorific term used to refer to teachers, but also for doctors and other people with important duties in society. “診 る” shares its Kun-reading with “見 る”, but means to “examine something” specifically in a medical context. 胃 がキリキリするので、病院 で先生 に診 てもらいたい。 Because I have a stinging pain in my stomach, I want to have it examined by a doctor at a hospital. In Japan, most hospitals or clinics will provide you with a prescription which you have to bring to a pharmacy to receive your medicine. In Japanese, prescription means “処方箋 ” and a pharmacy is “薬局 ”. You might hear a hospital receptionist telling you to bring your prescription to a nearby pharmacy to receive the medicine. 薬局 で処方箋 を提示 してください。 Please show your prescription at a pharmacy.[Recovering From an Illness]
There is an interesting term to describe the state of being in the middle of recovering from an illness. This is called “病 み上 がり”, which literally translates to “Coming back up from being ill”. Here’s an example of how to use this expression: 病 み上 がりだからあまり無理 しないでね。 You’re still recovering (from your illness), so please don’t overwork yourself. You can also use “ぴんぴんする” to describe having recovered fully from being sick and being back in your best form. たけしさん、風邪 だったみたいだけど、大丈夫 ？ I heard that Takeshi was sick, is he ok? そうなの？全然 今日 ぴんぴんしていたよ。 Is that so? He was completely fine today. That’s we have on describing illness today. Thank you for reading this article, and please feel free to consult our native Japanese language teachers if you have any further questions! You can also discuss this article on our official “Japanese Learning Group” on Facebook!単語リスト（Vocabulary list）
| 喉
nodo |
Throat |
| 痛
い itai |
Painful, sore |
| イガイガする igaiga suru |
To feel a tickle in the throat |
| 頭
atama |
Head |
| 頭痛
zutsuu |
Headache |
| ガンガンする gangan suru |
Pounding of a headache |
| お腹
onaka |
Stomach (casual) |
| 胃
i |
Stomach (formal) |
| キリキリする kirikiri suru |
A stinging feeling (e.g. stinging pain) |
| 病院
byouin |
Hospital |
| 医者
isha |
Doctor |
| 先生
sensei |
Doctor, teacher (honorific way of addressing someone or talking about a teacher or doctor etc.) |
| 診
る miru |
To examine (medically) |
| 診
てもらう mite morau |
To have something (medically) examined |
| 処方箋
shohousen |
Prescription |
| 薬局
yakkyoku |
Pharmacy |
| 提示
する Teiji suru |
To show, to present |
| 病
み上
がり yami agari |
Convalescence, recovering from an illness |
| ぴんぴんする pinpin suru |
To be lively and healthy |