Speaking Mandarin Chinese
How to describe a symptom at the pharmacy, in Mandarin
If you are in the chair right now
我从昨天开始胃不舒服。可以推荐一点药吗？
My stomach has been off since yesterday. Can you recommend some medicine?
If that gets brushed off
我不知道那个词，但是是这里。
I don't know the word, but it's here.
不舒服 — «not comfortable» — is the master key: body part plus 不舒服 names what is wrong without naming the disease. And note the verb waiting downstream: in Mandarin you 吃 medicine — eat it — so the dosage conversation runs on 吃 too.
The pharmacy is where learners get sick twice: once from whatever is wrong, and once from having no noun for it in any language. Mandarin quietly hands you the kindest escape of any language in this course: a two-word pattern that names the place and the wrongness, and leaves the diagnosis to the professional.
If you need more than one line
neutral
我嗓子疼。
My throat hurts. Body part plus 疼 — swap in: 头 head, 肚子 stomach, 牙 tooth. 痛 works the same way.
neutral
从昨天开始。/ 已经三天了。
Since yesterday. / It's been three days already. 已经…了 wraps the duration.
neutral
我吃过药了，但是没有用。
I've taken medicine already, but it didn't help. 吃药 — you eat medicine in Mandarin.
firmest
这个怎么吃？一天几次？
How do I take this? How many times a day? Confirming the dosage back is the objective — and it runs on 吃.
Two things worth knowing
The vocabulary is optional. The pattern is what carries you.
不舒服 is the master key
胃不舒服, 肚子不舒服, 眼睛不舒服 — «stomach not-comfortable» names no disease, requires no diagnosis, and gets you to exactly the right shelf. The shape is Mandarin's topic-comment grammar working for you: place first, verdict second. Between 不舒服 and 疼, plus a pointed finger for anything you can't even locate a word for, the pharmacist has everything they need.
You eat medicine
Mandarin takes its medicine with 吃 — 吃药, eat medicine — and the whole dosage conversation inherits the verb: 一天吃三次 (eat it three times a day), 饭后吃 (after meals), 一次吃两片 (two tablets at a time). Confirming the instructions back, which is this scenario's last objective, means saying 吃 until it stops feeling strange. It stops quickly.
What Mei actually said
What you have to get done
- Explain the issue without naming it
- Share what you have tried so far
- Confirm usage instructions after asking
Mei
Hello, is there something I can help you with?
You
Hello — this spot has been red and itchy lately, worse at night, but I don't know how to say this symptom.
Mei
I see — you could call that itching and redness; have you tried anything for it?
You
Thanks for explaining. I've tried applying moisturiser and taking allergy medicine, but neither helped much.
Mei
So you've tried moisturiser and allergy medicine; let me see what would suit you better.
You
Yes please, help me see which suits best; if I need medicine, how should I take it and how often?
Mei
Before taking anything, have a doctor or pharmacist confirm it, and follow the package instructions; if it persists or worsens, see a doctor soon — hope you feel better.
The whole conversation, unedited
A real run in the app, nothing scripted on the pharmacist's side. The transcript above is taken from this recording, and the objectives tick off on screen as they are met.
Turn sound on to hear it.
Now say it yourself
Reading that is not the same as producing it with someone waiting, which is the entire difficulty. You can have this exact conversation in the app: Mei is a third of the way through, and you have three things to get done.
It is free, it takes about a minute to start, and the first attempt is allowed to be terrible.
Practise this conversation
