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What to say at the Doctor’s in German Posted by on Feb 29, 2016 in Language

Hello and welcome to another post! In this post I’ll be giving you helpful sentences to enable you to book a doctor’s appointment and explain what’s wrong to the doctor in German.

Die Arztpraxis. Photo by ABUS Security Tech Germany on flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0) .

Keywords:

der Arzt/die Ärztin                                                          The doctor (male/female)

die Arztpraxis                                                                    The doctor’s office

der Termin                                                                         The appointment

der Hautarzt      The dermatologist (literally translates to “the skin doctor”)

der Frauenarzt    The gynaecologist (literally translates to “ the woman doctor”)

das (die) Symptom(e)                                                   The symptom(s)

die Krankenversicherung                                                    Health insurance

 

What to say when you call up to make an appointment:

Hallo {insert name} hier, Ich brauche bitte einen Termin für heute

Hello {insert name} here, I need an appointment for today please

Ich habe am Nachmittag Zeit

I have time in the afternoon

Ich könnte morgen kommen

I could come tomorrow

Es ist dringend

It is urgent

Vielen dank, tschüss!

Many thanks, goodbye!

What to say when you arrive:

Hallo ich habe einen Termin um … Uhr

Hello I have an appointment at … o clock

What the receptionist could say to you:

Ich brauche Ihre Krankenversicherungskarte

I need your health insurance card

Bitte nehmen Sie Platz

Please take a seat

Der Arzt hat heute Verspätung

The doctor is running late today

How to describe your problem to the Doctor:

„Hallo ich habe …”

 Kopfschmerzen                                                               headache

Bauchschmerzen                                                             stomach ache

Ohrenschmerzen                                                             ear ache

Rückenschmerzen                                                           back ache

Halsschmerzen                                                                 a sore throat

Grippe                                                                                  the flu

Husten                                                                                 a cough

„Mir ist …“

schwindelig                                                                       dizzy

Übel                                                                                      nauseous

„Ich bin …“

müde                                                                                    tired

“Ich musste mich …”

übergeben                                                                         to vomit

“Ich kann nicht …”

essen                                                                                    eat

schlafen                                                                               sleep

Photo by Claus Rebler on Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

What the Doctor could say to/ask you:

Seit wann haben Sie die Schmerzen?

Since when do you have this pain?

Ich kontrolliere jetzt Ihren Blutdruck

I’m going to check your blood pressure now

Nehmen Sie Medikamente?

Are you taking medication?

Ich verschreibe Ihnen dieses Medikament

I’m prescribing you this medication

Bitte nehmen Sie das zwei Mal pro Tag vor dem Essen

Please take this two times a day before a meal

 

Thanks for reading and I hope this practical post will help you,

Larissa

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About the Author: Larissa

Hello I'm Larissa. I live in Germany and I am half German and half English. I love sharing my passion for Germany with you through my posts! Apart from writing posts I teach fitness classes in Munich.

Comments:

  1. Kevin Kuehlwein:

    Hi Larissa,

    Thanks for another useful post. I always learn some new vocab from your posts.
    I wanted to suggest some possible changes and/or corrections in this post, however.
    At least in the U.S. (maybe it’s different in the UK) we would not capitalize “doctor” unless it was spoken to a doctor (e.g., “Yes, Doctor”) OR was part of a title (in which case it would be spelled as an abbreviation [e.g., “Dr. Smith]) versus spelled out fully.
    I also thought it would be good (see below) to add the gender to Krankenversicherung, capitalize Zeit, put the e or umlaut in tschuess, capitalize Platz, note that zweimal can be spelled either way (I think), and capitalize Tag below.
    Those were my impressions, which I checked on http://www.dict.cc, which I hope is accurate.
    P.S. We had two rabbits when we were young. They’re very soft and sweet. I also have a cousin who lives outside of Munich –great city.

    Thanks for considering this feedback to an otherwise very helfpul post.

    [die] Krankenversicherung
    Ich habe am Nachmittag zeit [Zeit]
    Vielen dank, tschuss! [tschuess!]
    Bitte nehmen Sie platz [Platz]
    Bitte nehmen Sie das zwei mal [od. zweimal] pro tag [Tag] vor dem Essen

    • Larissa:

      @Kevin Kuehlwein Hi Kevin,

      Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment! I’ve updated the post and double checked “zweimal” and “zwei Mal”; you’re right you can use both, the only difference that I found was that “zwei Mal” emphasizes the sentence more than “zweimal”.

      I hope you enjoyed the post 🙂
      Larissa

      PS. I hope your cousin enjoys Munich as much as I do!

  2. helen:

    Hi Larissa, thanks for the article, as always very informative. Look forward to learn more

    • Larissa:

      @helen Thank you Helen! I’m glad you liked the post 🙂

      Larissa

  3. Pius:

    Thanks. It is very helpful to me.

  4. Wali Mohammadi:

    Hi Larissa,

    Erstmal vielen lieben Dank für die tolle Post, bitte mach ne andere Post um wie man ein Arzt bedankt auf Deutsch, bzw verschiedene sätze wäre super.

    Thanks in advance

    Grüße aus

    Frankfurt am Main