At the Doctor's: Body Parts and Symptom Phrases in English

Learn useful English for talking to a doctor and explaining how you feel. This free A1 lesson for adult beginners introduces body parts, common illness and symptom words, injury phrases, and ways to describe duration. Its 13 interactive slides include vocabulary audio, picture quizzes, videos, listening tasks, and a doctor and patient phrase-sorting activity.

What you will learn

• Name basic body parts.
• Use common illness, symptom, and injury phrases.
• Describe how you feel and where something hurts.
• Say how long you have had a problem.
• Recognize questions and answers in a doctor visit conversation.

Under the weather: a useful English idiom

I am under the weather means I feel unwell. Watch the opening video and listen to the character explaining why he cannot come to work. Practice saying I am under the weather today. and I feel awful.

Body parts vocabulary in English

Use the picture quiz and audio cards to learn the body part names. Look at each picture, listen, and repeat the word.

• Head and face: head, face, eyes, ears, nose, teeth, neck, and throat.
• Arms and hands: shoulder, arm, elbow, wrist, hand, finger, and thumb.
• Body and legs: chest, back, stomach, hip, leg, knee, ankle, foot, and toe.

Practice the irregular plurals one foot, two feet and one tooth, two teeth. Put a body part into a sentence: My back hurts. or My teeth hurt.

Common illness and symptom phrases

Listen to the questions How are you feeling?, What's the matter?, and What's the problem? Practice answering with a short sentence from the vocabulary cards.

Other phrases in the lesson include I have an upset stomach., I have a cut., I have an allergy., and I have a runny nose. Notice the article in each phrase, such as a headache, an earache, and the flu.

Explaining how you feel and where it hurts

Use I have ... to name a problem, My ... hurts to name the body part, and I feel ... to describe how you feel.

• I have a headache.
• My stomach hurts.
• I feel terrible.
• I feel really bad.

You can add a little or a lot to describe how the pain feels: It hurts a little. It hurts a lot. Practice answering Where does it hurt? by naming the body part clearly.

Saying how long you have had a problem

Practice the question How long have you had the cough? Give a short answer such as For two days. or a complete sentence: I have had a cough for two days.

Use for with a length of time and since with a starting point: for three days, for a week, since yesterday, or since Monday. Choose an example duration for your role-play.

Talking about an injury

The vocabulary cards introduce these sentences:

• I broke my arm.
• I got a black eye.
• I sprained my ankle.
• I cut my finger.
• I hurt my back.

Listen to the injury conversation between Maya and Craig. Focus on how the injury happened and complete the missing words. Practice past-tense action phrases such as I tripped and fell. and I fell off my bike.

A short doctor visit conversation

Doctor: How are you feeling?
Patient: I feel unwell. I have a cough.
Doctor: How long have you had the cough?
Patient: For two days.
Doctor: Do you have any other symptoms?
Patient: I have a sore throat too.

This is a model conversation for English practice. Take turns as doctor and patient. Change the symptom and duration, and practice speaking in short, clear sentences.

Listening practice at the doctor's

Watch the appointment video and listen for the patient introducing himself, speaking to the receptionist, and explaining how he feels. Practice the phrase I have an appointment with Dr White. Answer the video questions to check the details you heard.

The short listening conversations and picture quiz also help you recognize symptom words. Listen once for the general meaning, then replay the audio to choose an answer. In the final sorting activity, decide which phrases belong to the doctor and which belong to the patient.

Practice with the interactive lesson

1. Watch the opening idiom video.
2. Identify body parts and repeat the vocabulary audio.
3. Watch the symptom video and practice the question and answer phrases.
4. Complete the health vocabulary picture and listening quizzes.
5. Watch the doctor visit video and answer its questions.
6. Complete the injury listening task and sort doctor and patient phrases.
7. Practice a short conversation and share a new word or phrase.

Teachers can model a symptom phrase and a duration answer before learners practice in pairs. For self-study, repeat the audio and combine a body part, a feeling, and a time phrase in your own example sentences.

Review polite conversations in Lesson 15, or explore more free A1 English teaching materials.