A0016: I Feel Sick

Introduction

It's never good when someone doesn't feel well but at least you can use the opportunity to start a small conversation in Spanish. The keywords are pobrecito – poor guy, and ¿Qué tienes? – What's wrong with you?

related SpanishPod lessons: A0006: How's it going?, A0076: Jet-lag, A0116: Do you want a mint?
discussion: visit the readers' forum for this lesson to discuss it or to ask questions about it
source: SpanishPod, the original MP3 lesson content of this lesson is licensed by PraxisLanguage Ltd. under a Creative Commons 3.0 Unported license.

Dialogue

mujer:	Hombre, ¿qué te pasa?
hombre:	Me siento mal.
mujer:	¿Qué tienes?
hombre:	Me duele el estómago.
mujer:	Pobrecito.

Dialogue with Translation

mujer:	Hombre,	¿qué	te	pasa?
	man	what	(to) you	(it) happens
woman:	Hey, what's happening to you?

hombre:	Me	siento	mal.
	myself	(I) feel	badly
man:	I don't feel so good.

mujer:	¿Qué	tienes?
	what	(you) have
woman:	What's wrong with you?

hombre:	Me	duele	el	estómago.
	(to) me	hurts	the	stomach
man:	My stomach hurts.

mujer:	Pobrecito.
	poor guy
woman:	Poor little dude.

Vocabulary for Dialogue

el hombre	noun (masculine)	the man
la mujer	noun (feminine)	the woman
¿qué?	interrogative pronoun	what?
te	indirect object pronoun	(to) you
pasar	verb (infinitive)	to happen
(él/ella) pasa	verb (present tense)	he/she(/it) happens
se	reflexive pronoun	oneself
sentirse	verb (infinitive)	to feel (oneself)
me	reflexive pronoun	myself
(yó) me siento	verb (present tense)	I feel (myself)
mal	adverb	badly
tener	verb (infinitive)	to have
(tú) tienes	verb (present tense)	you have (informal, singular)
me	indirect object pronoun	(to) me
doler	verb (infinitive)	to hurt
(él/ella) duele	verb (present tense)	he/she(/it) hurts
el estómago	noun (masculine)	the stomach
pobre	adjective (m./f.)	poor
el pobrecito	noun (masculine)	the poor little guy

Wikipedia has related information at El Gordo de la Primitiva

Vocabulary for Audio Lesson

gordo/gorda	adjective (m./f.)	fat
el gordito	noun (masculine)	the chubby guy
poco/poca	adjective (m./f.)	little
el poquito	noun (masculine)	the little cute bit
hasta luego	phrase	see you later

More Vocabulary

This section includes grammatically related words. Some of them are required by the exercise Dialogue Recast.

me	indirect object pronoun	(to) me
te		(to) you (informal, singular)
le		(to) him/her(/it)
le		(to) you (formal, singular)
nos		(to) us
os		(to) you (informal, plural)
les		(to) them
les		(to) you (formal, plural)

pasar	infinitive	to happen
(yo) paso	present tense	I happen
(tú) pasas		you happen (informal, singular)
(él/ella) pasa		he/she(/it) happens
(usted) pasa		you happen (formal, singular)
(nosotros/-as) pasamos		we happen (m./f.)
(vosotros/-as) pasáis		you happen (informal, plural, m./f.)
(ellos/ellas) pasan		they happen (m./f.)
(ustedes) pasan		you happen (formal, plural)

me	reflexive pronoun	myself
te		yourself (informal, singular)
se		himself/herself(/itself)
se		yourself (formal, singular)
nos		ourselves, each other
os		yourselves, each other (informal, plural)
se		themselves, each other
se		yourselves, each other (formal, plural)

sentirse	infinitive	to feel (oneself)
(yo) me siento	present tense	I feel (myself)
(tú) te sientes		you feel (yourself) (informal, singular)
(él/ella) se siente		he/she(/it) feels (himself/herself/itself)
(usted) se siente		you feel (yourself) (formal, singular)
(nosotros/-as) nos sentimos		we feel (ourselves) (m./f.)
(vosotros/-as) os sentís		you feel (yourselves) (informal, plural, m./f.)
(ellos/ellas) se sienten		they feel (themselves) (m./f.)
(ustedes) se sienten		you feel (yourselves) (formal, plural)

tener	infinitive	to have
(yo) tengo	present tense	I have
(tú) tienes		you have (informal, singular)
(él/ella) tiene		he/she(/it) has
(usted) tiene		you have (formal, singular)
(nosotros/-as) tenemos		we have (m./f.)
(vosotros/-as) tenéis		you have (informal, plural, m./f.)
(ellos/ellas) tienen		they have (m./f.)
(ustedes) tienen		you have (formal, plural)

doler	infinitive	to hurt
(yo) duelo	present tense	I hurt
(tú) dueles		you hurt (informal, singular)
(él/ella) duele		he/she(/it) hurts
(usted) duele		you have (formal, singular)
(nosotros/-as) dolemos		we hurt (m./f.)
(vosotros/-as) doléis		you hurt (informal, plural, m./f.)
(ellos/ellas) duelen		they hurt (m./f.)
(ustedes) duelen		you hurt (formal, plural)

Exercises

Dialogue Translation

Cover the right column, translate from Spanish to English and uncover the right column line by line to check your answers. If possible, read the Spanish sentences aloud.

Hombre, ¿qué te pasa?	Hey, what's happening to you?
Me siento mal.	I don't feel so good.
¿Qué tienes?	What's wrong with you?
Me duele el estómago.	My stomach hurts.
Pobrecito.	Poor little dude.

Dialogue Recall

Now translate from English to Spanish. Remember to say the Spanish sentences aloud.

Man, what's happening to you?	Hombre, ¿qué te pasa?
I don't feel so good.	Me siento mal.
What's wrong with you?	¿Qué tienes?
My stomach hurts.	Me duele el estómago.
Poor guy.	Pobrecito.

Dialogue Remix

Translate this variant of the dialogue from English to Spanish.

Hey!	¡Hombre!
What's up? (= What happens?)	¿Qué pasa?
I feel very (= muy) bad.	Me siento muy mal.
What's your problem?	¿Qué tienes?
I have a headache. (= The head (= la cabeza) hurts to me.)	Me duele la cabeza.
I feel sorry. (= It (= lo) I feel.)	Lo siento.

Dialogue Recast

This translation exercise requires some of the words from the More Vocabulary section.

What's happening to you? (formal, plural)	¿Qué les pasa?
We don't feel so good.	Nos sentimos mal.
What's wrong with you? (formal, plural)	¿Qué tienen (ustedes)?
My stomach hurts.	Me duele el estómago.
Poor little guy.	Pobrecito.

Image Credits

“Image:Stomach diagram.svg” by Indolences at en.wikipedia (Public Domain)
“Image:Carl Spitzweg 017.jpg” by Carl Spitzweg (Public Domain)