Describe how you feel

What you’ll learn

• Use body-part vocabulary with appropriate articles.
• Describe a feeling with tener, estar or doler.
• Ask for an appointment and give a simple time reference.

Say what you are experiencing

Use estoy cansado/cansada for feeling tired and tengo frío for feeling cold. Other common phrases include tengo fiebre and tengo tos. Learn them as complete expressions rather than choosing a verb from the English translation. A concrete symptom description is clearer than a vague statement when you need someone to understand what you mean.

Doler works like gustar in these examples: Me duele la cabeza, but me duelen los pies. The body part determines the verb's number. Spanish normally uses the article when the owner is clear: la cabeza, not a word-for-word copy of my head. Describe only what you actually mean; this lesson teaches language, not a diagnosis.

Ask for help and clarify the time

Necesito una cita asks for an appointment. ¿Tiene una cita disponible? asks about availability. You may hear ¿Desde cuándo? asking since when. A short answer such as desde ayer gives a starting point. If you do not understand a question, say No entiendo esa palabra or ask the person to repeat more slowly.

Keep a distinction between understanding a phrase and understanding a real situation. You can ask ¿Puede escribirlo, por favor? to have information written down. A clear description includes what you notice, where it is and when it began. Avoid substituting an unfamiliar word merely because it sounds similar to an English one.

Useful vocabulary

la cabeza

the head

la garganta

the throat

la cita

the appointment

Common mistakes

• Use duele with one body part and duelen with plural body parts.
• Keep the article in me duele la cabeza.
• Ask for clarification instead of guessing an unfamiliar term.

Keep these ideas

• Use complete expressions with tener, estar and doler.
• The body part controls duele/duelen.
• Give a starting time and ask for clarification when needed.

Use it in your life

Write a fictional appointment-booking dialogue. Keep it to the request, an availability question and a clear time reference.

Read it in context

Look for this lesson’s ideas in a complete Spanish story. Read the passage first, then use its translations to check your understanding.