At the doctor in Spanish: how to say you're sick

To say you are sick in Spanish, say estoy enfermo (or enferma), and to name what is wrong, reach for tener: tengo fiebre (I have a fever), tengo dolor de cabeza (I have a headache). Those two patterns, estar for how you feel and tener for the symptom, carry almost every sentence you will need at a pharmacy or a doctor's office (or, in British English, the doctor's surgery). Vocabcord's A1 Spanish set carries ten core health words built around exactly that: médico, hospital, medicina, and the rest. Here they are with audio, plus the phrases for describing a symptom and booking an appointment.

The core health words, with audio

This is the health slice of Vocabcord's A1 Spanish set: sick, tired, a fever, a headache, and the people and places you go to for help. Tap the play button on any row to hear it.

Saying you're sick: estoy enfermo

How you feel takes estar, never ser: estoy enfermo (I am sick, said by a man or boy) or estoy enferma (said by a woman or girl), because enfermo/enferma describes a temporary state rather than a permanent trait. The corpus's own example for enfermo is exactly this sentence: hoy estoy enfermo (I am sick today), with hoy doing the work of marking it as today's condition rather than a fact about the person. The same verb covers feeling run down before you are properly ill: estoy muy cansado (I'm so tired), the corpus's own example for cansado. Being well works the same way in reverse: estoy sano (I am healthy), though sano can also describe food and habits in general, as in the corpus's own come comida sana (eat healthy food).

Naming a symptom: tengo fiebre, tengo tos

Where estoy enfermo says how you feel in general, Spanish switches to tener (to have) for a specific symptom, the same pattern English uses for I have a fever. Tengo dolor de cabeza (I have a headache) is the corpus's own example, word for word. Fever follows the identical pattern: the corpus's own line, ella tiene fiebre (she has a fever), swaps to tengo fiebre (I have a fever) once you are the one who is sick. A cold works differently, with a different verb: the corpus's line for resfriado is he cogido un resfriado (I caught a cold), built on coger rather than tener. Pain anywhere else on the body switches pattern again, to doler: me duele la espalda (my back hurts). The full grammar behind that verb, plus every body part it pairs with, is on the Spanish body parts guide; this page stays on health and the doctor's visit itself.

Booking an appointment and naming who treats you

Vocabcord's A2 health pack, one level up from the words above, adds the vocabulary for the visit itself. To book an appointment, the corpus's own line is he pedido cita con el médico (I have asked for an appointment with the doctor), built on the noun cita. Médico is the everyday word for doctor; Spanish also uses doctor and doctora as a direct title, the way English does. Two more people you might meet there: el enfermero or la enfermera (nurse), whose corpus example is el enfermero me puso una inyección (the nurse gave me an injection), and el dentista, with hoy tengo cita con el dentista (I have a dentist appointment today), reusing the same cita pattern. A paciente (patient) is who you become once you are there, and a course of medicina (medicine) or a pastilla (pill) is usually how the visit ends, the corpus's own tómate la medicina (take your medicine) and toma una pastilla después de las comidas (take a pill after meals).

Inside the corpus: 60 health words, A1 through C2

The ten words above are the start of a set that runs the whole CEFR ladder. Across Vocabcord's Spanish corpus, the health theme holds 60 phrases in total, verified against the manifests directly: 10 at A1 (the words on this page), 19 at A2 (symptoms and the visit itself: tos, herida, tratamiento, radiografía), 15 at B1 (síntoma, diagnóstico, receta, emergencia), and 16 at C2, where the register jumps to words like dolencia (ailment), convalecencia (convalescence), and virulento (virulent). One honest gap: the shipping corpus has no dedicated B2 or C1 health pack, so the theme jumps straight from B1's everyday clinic words to C2's clinical vocabulary, with nothing in between yet.

Words you hope not to need, kept ready anyway

Health vocabulary is the kind you would rather never need in a hurry, which is exactly why it deserves to already be familiar before you do. Vocabcord skips the study session: plug in your phone to charge and one phrase plays out loud, translation on screen, so estoy enfermo and tengo fiebre are already there the day they matter. Get Vocabcord on the App Store and keep the doctor's-visit words ready, a charge at a time.

Common questions

How do you say I'm sick in Spanish?

Estoy enfermo if you are a man or boy, estoy enferma if you are a woman or girl. Spanish uses estar, not ser, because being sick is a temporary state.

How do you say I have a fever in Spanish?

Tengo fiebre, built on tener (to have), the same verb pattern English uses for symptoms.

How do you say I have a headache in Spanish?

Tengo dolor de cabeza, literally I have pain of head. It uses the same tener pattern as a fever or a cough.

What is doctor in Spanish?

Médico is the everyday word, as in necesito ir al médico (I need to see a doctor). Spanish also uses doctor and doctora as a direct title, the same way English does.

How do you make a doctor's appointment in Spanish?

He pedido cita con el médico (I have asked for an appointment with the doctor), built on the noun cita. The same word covers a dentist's appointment: tengo cita con el dentista.

How do you say I caught a cold in Spanish?

He cogido un resfriado, built on the verb coger (to catch) rather than tener. Resfriado itself is the word for a cold.