Join Luis and me as we review gastrointestinal symptoms in Spanish. After the vocab review, we will practice some questions related to upper GI tract symptoms. In the next member lesson, we will complete our gastrointestinal review of systems in Spanish.
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Vocabulary
01:29
Let’s start with the common symptoms patients use to describe stomach pain, nausea, and changes in their bowel movements.
El dolor de estómago – Stomach pain
Los retorcijones, los retortijones, los cólicos – Cramps (as in stomach cramps)
Elisa, my Spanish teacher from Guatemala, preferred “retorcijones,” whereas Gloria from Mexico preferred “retortijones.” They both liked “cólicos,” which is often used to refer to menstrual cramps.
Los vómitos – Vomiting
La diarrea – Diarrhea
El estreñimiento – Constipation
La indigestión – Indigestion
Las náuseas – Nausea
Las náuseas de embarazo, las náuseas matutinas – Morning sickness
Las agruras, la acidez (estomacal) – Heartburn
El reflujo gástrico – Gastric reflux
La úlcera – Ulcer
La úlcera péptica – Peptic ulcer
La úlcera gástrica – Gastric ulcer
La úlcera duodenal – Duodenal ulcer
Las heces, el excremento, el/la popó – Stool or bowel movement
Popó is the most casual but likely the easiest to understand — medical professionals use it to refer to a bowel movement or stool. In Bolivia, I also recall an obstetrician referring to a baby’s poop as caca. This is less common, especially among medical professionals, and can be vulgar in some contexts, but means poop when used appropriately. Heces is commonly used among medical professionals, but your patients may not be as familiar with it — one of my patients from Mexico kept referring to their stool as “haces.” I had to ask, “¿Heces?” and they responded, “Oh, sí, haces.” So your patients may not know that term, but they’ll usually understand it.
El popó de color rojo oscuro, la popó de color rojo oscuro – Dark red-colored poop
We’ll use de color + ______ to describe color in the rest of the examples.
Las heces de color negro – Black-colored stool (heces)
El excremento de color arcilla – Clay-colored excrement (excremento)
Gloria, my Spanish teacher from Mexico, recommended using “gray-colored” instead of “clay-colored.”
La popó de color gris – Grey-colored stool (popó)
Las hemorroides, las almorranas – Hemorrhoids
La sangre en las heces – Blood in the stool (heces)
La ictericia – Jaundice
La piel amarilla – Yellow skin
La orina oscura – Dark urine
We cover jaundice and dark urine here because when liver disease raises bilirubin, it turns the skin yellow and the urine dark. This can also happen in gallbladder disease when a stone blocks the bile duct — when bile can’t reach the intestine, stool can turn clay-colored or grey.
Colloquial Terms |”Belly and Guts”
08:47
Now let’s cover some colloquial terms Spanish speakers use for the belly and intestines — including a couple that are especially handy when talking with kids.
La barriga, La panza, La pancita (when speaking to children) – Belly
Barrigón, Barrigona, Panzón, Panzona – Potbellied
You may hear a pregnant woman refer to herself as panzona.
El vientre – Pregnant belly, womb
La(s) tripa(s) – Intestines, guts
You may also hear la tripa used colloquially to mean “belly,” even though it technically refers to the intestines/guts.
Asking About Symptoms of the Upper GI Tract
Nausea
11:00
Now let’s turn those symptoms into questions you can ask your patients directly.
El tracto gastrointestinal superior – Upper gastrointestinal tract
All the symptom vocabulary above can be used in questions with the verb tener.
¿Tiene dolor de estómago? – Do you have stomach pain?
¿Tiene vómitos? – Are you vomiting? / Have you been vomiting?
¿Tiene náuseas? – Are you nauseous?
¿Siente náuseas? – Do you feel nauseous?
You can also use the adjective mareado/a to describe feeling sick to one’s stomach, or queasy.
¿Está mareada? – Are you sick to your stomach?
Note that mareado/a is also used to say “dizzy.” You can also use barrigón and panzón as masculine nouns referring to someone’s paunch or potbelly — for example, “Después de tomar tanta cerveza, tiene un panzón.”
¿Tiene náuseas de embarazo? / ¿Tiene náuseas matutinas? – Do you have morning sickness?
Heartburn and Swallowing
12:58
Next, we’ll ask about heartburn, belching, and difficulty swallowing — including a couple of phrasings a child might use.
¿Tiene agruras? / ¿Tiene acidez? – Do you have heartburn?
Eructar, Repetir – To belch
¿Eructa mucho después de comer? / ¿Repite mucho después de comer? – Do you belch a lot after eating?
A child may instead be asked:
¿Se echa sapos? – Literally, “Do you throw toads?”
Note the pronominal form of the verb echarse — we’ll see this again when we talk about farting.
Tragar, Pasar – To swallow
¿Tiene dificultad para tragar? / ¿Tiene dificultad para pasar (saliva)? – Do you have difficulty swallowing?
¿Tiene dificultad para pasar/tragar los líquidos? – Do you have difficulty swallowing liquids?
¿Tiene dificultad para pasar/tragar la comida? – Do you have difficulty swallowing food?
¿Le duele al tragar? / ¿Le duele al pasar? – Does it hurt to swallow?
Choking
Atorarse, Quedarse atorado(a) – To get stuck
¿Siente que la comida se le queda atorada en la garganta o en el esófago? / ¿Siente que la comida se le atora en la garganta o en el esófago? – Do you feel like food gets stuck in your throat or your esophagus?
Here, le refers to the patient — this is an example of the accidental “se” used to express an action beyond one’s control.
Señale dónde siente que se (le) queda atorada la comida. / Señale dónde siente que se (le) atora la comida. – Point to where you feel food gets stuck.
Ahogarse – To choke, to drown, to suffocate
Ahogarse can also mean to drown or to suffocate, but here we’ll use it to say “to choke.” Patients will also use the verb we just practiced, atorarse, to say “to choke.”
¿Siente que se ahoga con la comida? / ¿Siente que se atora con la comida? – Do you feel like you choke on food?
¿Siente que se ahoga con los líquidos? / ¿Siente que se atora con los líquidos? – Do you feel like you choke on liquids?
Related Lessons
- The Sh¡t Show with Héctor y Beto de “No Hay Tos“
- Internal Anatomy
- External Anatomy
- Abdominal Pain in Spanish
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