Hello.

Imagine you are sick during your precious Christmas holidays or business trips in Korea. You may need to visit emergency rooms in the middle of night. It is important to know some essential Korean expressions in relation to sickness.

The most common expression for this is “아프다 (a peu da)” which means ‘sick’. In the present tense sentences, it changes as “아파요 (a pa yo)” together with subject (i.e. body parts)+이 / 가. For example, “머리가 아파요 (meo ri ga a pa yo)” means ‘I have a headache’. If you want to say ‘I have a stomachache’, it would be “배가 아파요 bae ga apa yo”.

If you want to say more detailed symptoms, follow expressions can be used.

I have a cough. _ “저는 기침을 해요. Jeo neun gichimeul haeyo”

I have a runny nose. _ “**콧물이 나와요.konmuri nawayo”

(**Please note that when the final consonant of a syllable is /ㅅ/ and the following syllable begins with /ㅁ/, /ㅅ/ is pronounced as /ㄴ/, therefore when you pronounce ‘콧물’, the sound is /kon mul/ instead of /kot mul/. This is the majour phonetic assimilation/ nasalization rule is Korean.)

I have a fever. _ “열이 나요.yeori nayo”

I have a period pain. _ “생리통이 있어요.saengritongi isseoyo”

Now you know how to talk about your symptoms in Korean. Don’t be nervous even though they don’t understand your English. You can talk in Korean!!