How to Ask About Health and Injuries in English Basic English Phrases
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hi everybody my name is Alisha in this
lesson I’m going to talk about how to
ask about someone’s health or any
injuries that they might have we’ll talk
about questions you can use some
responses and a few things to be careful
of when you’re asking these questions so
let’s begin okay first I want to start
with this list of questions that you can
ask people about their condition this
first group at the top you can use to
ask about illness so illness means
sickness the first one is a very general
expression are you feeling okay you can
use this when you kind of see someone
maybe they look tired or they might be
sick or maybe they look maybe sad you
could even ask in that case so are you
feeling okay is a general friendly and
caring expression to use we tend to use
it with a little bit of a worried voice
like are you feeling okay that’s kind of
a nice appropriate way to ask this
question another one how are you feeling
how are you feeling how are you feeling
is when we use when we know the other
person is sick like we saw them
yesterday for example and they had a
cold we want to check on their condition
now how are you feeling so this is
something we use after we’ve seen a sick
person or maybe they’re in the process
of recovering from an illness so how are
you feeling is also quite friendly if
you want to be direct you can say are
you sick are you sick
so this is good if you hear someone
coughing or maybe their eyes are red
something may be visually or you can
hear that like you know they sound
terrible maybe you can say are you sick
it’s probably good to use a worried tone
of voice if you ask are you sick and you
sound kind of cold and uncaring you
won’t seem very friendly so if you want
to show you care
about the other person’s condition ask
are you sick are you sick much nicer if
you have a guess you want to guess for
some reason about the other person’s
condition you can ask do you have a cold
do you have a cold so a cold is the
general word we use for like a light
sickness kind of where our nose maybe
get stuffed meaning it doesn’t work
properly it’s hard to breathe and maybe
we need to use tissue a lot to stop it
maybe we have a sore throat and maybe a
cough as well so these are the very
common feelings the common symptoms of a
cold to ask about that do you have a
cold is quite common especially in
colder months and finally are you okay
are you okay this one’s very similar to
are you feeling okay but are you okay is
one we can use not just for illness so
I’ve put it here between illness and
injury we use are you okay to talk about
illness yes are you okay
but we also use it if someone might have
been injured so if for example I drop
something on my foot or maybe I I fall
down someone might ask me are you okay
meaning do you have any injuries do you
have any injuries are you okay we can
also use this to talk about someone’s
emotional state like maybe they get
really upset or something bad happens
and you can ask about their emotional
condition you can use are you okay to do
that so this is relating to injuries and
to illness another one this one down
here this group is specifically relating
to injuries so injuries are like
accident related something happened to
our bodies and we are hurt as a result
so you can ask this question are you
hurt are you hurt
so again if I fall down or there was an
accident
of some kind I want to ask about the
other person’s condition I can say are
you hurt are you hurt
meaning do you have any injuries are you
hurt sounds much like closer much more
friendly do you have any injuries sounds
kind of polite and maybe like something
a doctor would use perhaps a friend or
someone close to you might say are you
hurt okay
another one a more serious one is are
you bleeding are you bleeding
so maybe you have a cut like a kitchen
knife accident and someone asks are you
bleeding
so bleeding is you know blood is that
red substance inside our bodies are you
bleeding means is there blood coming out
of your body so it’s kind of grotesque
kind of disgusting to think about but to
ask this question like for a cut
situation maybe it’s really serious you
can ask this are you bleeding yes or no
okay finally where does it hurt where
does it hurt so for example if you have
an injury and you hurt your leg or you
hurt your arm
and you need to be specific about the
place where the injury happened the
doctor or someone else might ask where
does it hurt where does it hurt which
means what’s the point in your body
that’s the most painful so for example
like I broke my wrist and the doctor
might say where does it hurt I could say
it hurts here it hurts at my wrist it
hurts at this point so you can point and
answer this question it hurts here okay
finally the final question on this list
is a recovery related question so I
mentioned this one how are you feeling
which we can use for some recovery we
can also use this maybe like a week
after a serious illness maybe or like
mmm even a few hours after maybe
something unpleasant happens for example
are you feeling better are you feeling
better so this better we see the
comparative form means are you feeling
better than you were feeling
before like are you feeling better than
you felt yesterday are you feeling
better than you were feeling a few hours
ago so better than before is what this
means okay so we have these groups
illness related questions injury related
questions and a couple of recovery
related questions so to respond to these
questions you can say yes and give some
explanation I’ll go to this in a moment
you can say just a bit or I’m sorry just
a bit tired just a bit tired so this is
a good a good response to are you sick
or do you have a cold or are you okay if
you’re not sick but you are feeling a
little down you can use this just a bit
tired are you sick I’m just a bit tired
if you are fine no problems you can say
no I’m fine no I’m fine like are you
sick no I’m fine so this is one you use
in direct response to a sickness related
question like are you sick or do you
have a cold or are you okay you might
hear no I’m fine
in response to this but I think the
better response is yes I’m fine yes I am
okay another good option here are you
hurt no I’m fine
so you might hear this in that case as
well so again direct responses to direct
questions there but if you want to give
your symptoms you want to explain
something like are you sick yeah you can
use one of these patterns I have or am
depending on the situation and then
describe your illness or your injury
like yeah I have a cold or yeah I have a
broken arm or yeah I have a headache for
example if you’re talking about another
person like a co-worker or a friend you
could say he or she has please note the
conjugation change she has a maybe bad
coffee she has a bad cough or she has a
backache or he has a headache
for example so you can explain your
symptoms or your physical condition with
these patterns so I have or he has you
could use a pattern like my head hurts
or my stomach hurts as well
those are both fine okay so with this I
want to introduce a couple phrases to
use carefully so I’ve listed these three
because if you ask them to directly you
might cause the other person to feel
offended so they might feel angry or
upset about this question so let’s take
a look first one you’re looking a bit
under the weather this expression right
here under the weather this means bad
you look bad you look a bit a bit means
a little you look a bit under the
weather so that means it looks like your
condition is not so good the reason it’s
in this use carefully category is
because if you just directly say this to
like a co-worker for example they might
feel offended
maybe that person feels fine like
there’s no problem they’re not sick
they’re not tired so it’s like you’re
saying directly you look bad today so be
careful with this we would use this the
best case to use this is in a situation
where the co-worker in this case has
told us I feel a bit sick or I have a
cold then you can respond with like yeah
you look a bit under the weather like to
sympathize with that person I see you do
you look a bit under the weather today
that’s much better I don’t recommend
just walking up to someone and
commenting like you look a bit under the
weather today it sounds like you’re just
saying you look bad today so be careful
with this one these are similar you
don’t look so good you don’t look so
good so this is a common one to use like
for stomachaches or for headaches like
for people with tech that visual like a
strong visual of their discomfort like
maybe they’re holding their head or
their posture
is changed because of their stomachache
if you see that and you speak with them
a little bit and they mentioned I have a
stomachache or I have a headache and
then you follow up and you say you don’t
look so good
maybe you should go home that’s much
better it’s much better to sympathize
after you get information again don’t
walk up to someone and say you don’t
look so good unless you’re very close to
that person same thing here with he or
she doesn’t sound good so again a verb
conjugation point you don’t look good he
doesn’t sound good so sound here this
refers to something we can hear so we
would use this for like a cough maybe or
maybe someone’s voice is gone for
example something we can hear we use
this so if your co-worker has a really
bad cough you might say he doesn’t sound
good or she doesn’t sound good but again
just be careful like if your coworker
hears this comment then they might feel
upset especially if nothing’s wrong but
just kind of use these two em to
sympathize rather so don’t don’t be too
direct if you want to use these if
you’re ever worried try one of these
instead these are a little softer and
less direct and just use a caring voice
when you ask the question okay so this
is an introduction to some questions and
some responses you can use to talk about
health and to talk about injuries and
other physical condition related things
I hope that it was helpful for you if
you have any questions or comments or if
you want to practice making an example
sentence please feel free to do so in
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