Health, the Body & the Doctor
Health, the Body & the Doctor
Talking about illness in Dutch means learning a compound pattern English does not have: pain words are built by gluing -pijn onto a body part, giving hoofdpijn, buikpijn, keelpijn as single words.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
Body part + -pijn makes a compound noun, used without an article
Ik heb hoofdpijn. Ik heb keelpijn.
I have a headache. I have a sore throat.
English uses either a dedicated noun ('headache') or an adjective phrase ('a sore throat'). Dutch does the same thing to every body part: hoofd + pijn, buik + pijn, keel + pijn, rug + pijn, kies + pijn. These compounds take no article after hebben — Ik heb hoofdpijn, never 'een hoofdpijn'. For parts without a fixed compound, use pijn in: Ik heb pijn in mijn knie.
Illness states use zijn plus an adjective
Ik ben verkouden. Ik ben misselijk.
I have a cold. I feel sick.
Where English says 'I have a cold' — a noun you possess — Dutch says Ik ben verkouden, using an adjective and the verb 'to be'. The same applies to misselijk ('nauseous'), duizelig ('dizzy') and moe ('tired'). Mixing the two patterns produces the classic error 'ik heb verkouden', so it is worth learning each condition together with its verb.
Asking after someone: Wat is er aan de hand?
Wat is er aan de hand? Wat heb je?
What's the matter? What's wrong with you?
Two fixed questions do most of the work. Wat is er aan de hand? literally means 'what is there at the hand?' and is the everyday 'what's going on / what's wrong'. Wat heb je? — literally 'what do you have?' — is how you ask someone what is ailing them, and it sounds perfectly polite in Dutch even though its literal English translation does not. The reply often begins Ik voel me niet zo goed.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- English
- the doctor
- English
- the GP / family doctor
- English
- the pharmacy
- English
- headache
- English
- sore throat
- English
- fever
- English
- I have a cold
- English
- ill
- English
- the back
- English
- the prescription
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