Body Parts, Common Symptoms, and Everyday Health in Spanish
Body Parts, Common Symptoms, and Everyday Health in Spanish
In this lesson, you will learn essential Spanish vocabulary for body parts, common symptoms, and simple health descriptions. The goal is linguistic communication: naming where a problem is, when it started, and how strong it feels. This lesson does not diagnose medical conditions.
Head and face
- — head
- — face
- — eyes
- — nose
- — mouth
- — throat
Upper body
- — neck
- — shoulder
- — shoulders
- — arm
- — hand
- — hands
- — chest
- — back
Lower body
- — stomach
- — leg
- — knee
- — foot
- — feet
Common symptom nouns
- — pain
- — cough
- — fever
- — dizziness
- — tiredness / fatigue
Common illness names
- — cold
- — flu
An illness name and a symptom name are not the same thing. For example, — fever is a symptom, while — flu is an illness name.
Simple symptom phrases
Learn these as practical health phrases. The grammar of doler and the systematic choice between doler, tener, and estar are taught in the next lesson.
- — I have a headache.
- — I have a cough.
- — I have a fever.
- — I am dizzy. Said by a male speaker.
- — I am dizzy. Said by a female speaker.
- — I am tired. Said by a male speaker.
- — I am tired. Said by a female speaker.
Say where the pain is
- — I have pain in my back.
- — I have pain in my shoulder.
- — I have pain in my knee.
- — I have stomach pain.
Say when the problem started
Useful time phrases include:
- — since this morning
- — since yesterday
- — since last night
For this lesson, use them as practical time expressions.
— I have had a cough since yesterday.
— I have had a headache since this morning.
Describe simple intensity
- — mild
- — strong / severe
- — very strong / very severe
You can say:
- — The pain is mild.
- — The pain is strong / severe.
- — The pain is very strong / severe.
Ask where the problem is
Use:
— Where do you have pain?
Possible answer:
— I have pain in my back.
Ask when it started
Use this practical question:
— Since when?
Possible answer:
. — Since yesterday.
Ask about intensity
Use:
— Is it mild or strong?
Possible answer:
— It is strong / severe.
Short health exchange
Person A: — What problem do you have?
Person B: — I have a headache.
Person A: — Since when?
Person B: . — Since this morning.
Person A: — Is it mild or strong?
Person B: — It is mild.
Another short exchange
Person A: — What problem do you have?
Person B: — I have a cough and a fever.
Do not infer a diagnosis
— I have a fever, reports a symptom.
This sentence does not by itself establish that the speaker has — flu or any other specific illness.
A practical health-description method
- Name the body part or symptom accurately.
- State the location of the problem if relevant.
- Add a simple time expression such as when known.
- Add a simple intensity description when useful.
- Keep symptom names separate from illness names.
- Describe what the person reports without inferring a diagnosis.
From Health Vocabulary to Doler, Tener, and Estar
You can now identify a body part, name a common symptom, and state its location, timing, and simple intensity. The next lesson teaches how to describe pain and physical sensations with doler, tener, and estar.