Flu Symptoms in Spanish

Happy New Year! I am excited to share more audio Spanish lessons with you in the upcoming year.

It’s that time of year again. It’s the flu season and there are a lot of upper respiratory infections going around. So in this audio lesson, we are going to learn how to express symptoms of the flu in Spanish. If you are a healthcare provider, you know that the flu causes symptoms of the common cold in addition to a high fever, diffuse body aches, and fatigue.

First, you will hear a clinical dialogue where señora Garcia presents the clinic with a terrible cold. She is quite worried because she is 7 months pregnant and many of the children at the daycare where she works have recently come down with the flu.

Following the clinical dialogue, we will practice expressing those symptoms of the flu that are also caused by the common cold. You’ll learn how to say cold, runny nose, stuffy nose, sore throat, and cough.

Table of Contents

1:30 Clinical Dialogue
3:04 Symptoms of the Flu and Common Cold

Clinical Dialogue – The Flu in Pregnancy

1:30

D: Hola señora García, ¿Cómo le va el día de hoy? ¿Qué le trae a la clínica?
P: Me siento muy mal doctor. Tengo un resfriado terrible y estoy embarazada. Por eso vine a la clínica.
D: ¿Cuántos meses de embarazo tiene?
P: Tengo siete meses. Es mi primer embarazo. Por lo tanto estoy muy preocupada.
D: No se preocupe. Vamos a revisarla. ¿Cuándo empezó a sentirse mal?
P: Anoche cuando me dio una fiebre de casi 39 grados (102 grados). Sigo sintiéndome afiebrada y siento todo mi cuerpo dolorido. Tengo moqueo y dolor de cabeza.
D: ¿Le duele la garganta?
P: Sí, me duele al tragar y me siento muy fatigada.
D: ¿Tiene tos?
P: Sí esta mañana empecé a toser.
D: ¿Tiene flemas?
P: No, es una tos seca.
D: ¿Le falta el aire?
P: No, pero me cuesta trabajo respirar por tener la nariz tapada.
D: ¿Ha tenido contacto con alguien que esté contagiado de la gripe?
P: Sí doctor trabajo en una guardería, y muchos niños acaban de enfermarse de la gripe.
D: ¿Se vacunó contra la gripe este año?
P: Si doctor, hace 5 días me vacunaron en el trabajo. ¿Puede ser por la vacuna que me enfermé?

Symptoms of the Flu and Common Cold

3:04

Let’s review señora García’s symptoms, focusing on symptoms typical of the common cold.

Tengo un resfriado terrible.
(I have a terrible cold.)

Estoy resfriado/a.
(I have a cold.)

Tengo moqueo (nasal).
(I have a runny nose.)

Tengo dolor de garganta.
(I heave a sore throat.)

¿Le duele la garganta?
Does your throat hurt?

Me duele al tragar.
(It hurts to swallow.)

A + EL > AL + TRAGAR = upon swallowing

Do you have a cough?
(Tiene tos?)

Toser
(to cough)

Conjugation of TOSER > TOSO / TOSES / TOSE / TOSEMOS / TOSEN

¿Está tosiendo mucho?
(Are you coughing a lot?)

Toso mucho.
(I cough a lot.)

¿Tiene flemas?
(Are you bringing up phlegm?)

It’s a dry cough.
(Es una tos seca.)

la nariz tapada
(stuffy nose)

Tengo la nariz tapada.
(I have a stuffy nose.)

Gracias por escuchar. The lessons offered at docmolly.com are solely for learning Spanish. They are not intended to teach medicine or provide medical advice.

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Get access to over 200 premium interactive audio Spanish lessons where we review all the key vocabulary, grammar, and phrases from the clinical dialogues and interviews heard in the Medical Spanish Podcast, plus more. In the premium lessons, there is follow-up dialogue to this one, where the doctor explains to señora Garcia that she is not sick from the vaccine but from her exposure to the flu at the daycare where she works. He also explains her diagnosis and treatment plan.

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More Free Lessons Related to Respiratory Illness and Viral Infections

• Asthma
• Chikungunya and Zika: Patient Interviews in Spanish
• Viral Gastroenteritis in Spanish
• Fever and a Rash: A Call to the Clinic in Spanish

Take classes from Ángel!

For this clinical dialogue, I am joined by online Spanish teacher Angel Bahena, who has just completed his training as an ICU nurse. ¡Felicitaciones Ángel! Angel provides one on one lessons over Skype. You can email Ángel to find out more.

Have a question?

You can always email me at molly@docmolly.com or leave a comment under this post.