At the Hospital
Describe symptoms, register at a clinic, and understand a doctor's instructions.
Hospital Korean covers a high-stakes set of phrases. Korean medical care is generally excellent and accessible — most hospitals have walk-in clinics (의원) and major hospitals have international clinics with English-speaking staff. Travel insurance covers most issues, but you'll pay first and reclaim.
Key symptom vocabulary: 머리가 아파요 (my head hurts), 배가 아파요 (my stomach hurts), 열이 나요 (I have a fever), 기침해요 (I'm coughing), 어지러워요 (I'm dizzy), 토했어요 (I threw up). For the pharmacy (약국): 처방전 (prescription), 약 (medicine), 식후에 (after meals), 식전에 (before meals). Pharmacies are everywhere in Korea and most basic medications are available over the counter. The pharmacist is usually willing to give advice, though may have limited English. Bring a written description of your symptoms in Korean if your speaking ability is uncertain — translation apps work well for this.
-아/어요 + 부터 — Since / From (time)
N+부터 marks the starting point of time or place. When describing symptoms, you often say when they started: '어제부터 (since yesterday)', '아침부터 (since morning)'. Pair with -아/어요 or -고 있어요 to describe ongoing symptoms.
-이/가 아프다 / -이/가 나다 — Body complaints
To describe pain or discomfort: body part + 이/가 아파요 (hurts). To describe symptoms that 'appear': 열이 나요 (have a fever), 기침이 나요 (coughing). The subject particle 이/가 is used with the body part or symptom.
How It Works
Korean describes bodily complaints with a construction that differs from English in an important way: the body part becomes the grammatical subject. 배가 아파요 is literally 'the stomach hurts', not 'I hurt my stomach'. The subject particle 이/가 marks the affected part, and the speaker does not appear in the sentence at all.
This extends to symptoms that 'arise' rather than hurt. 나다 means roughly 'to occur' or 'to come out', and it pairs with symptoms that appear: 열이 나요 ('a fever occurs'), 기침이 나요 ('a cough occurs'), 콧물이 나요 ('a runny nose occurs'). Choosing between 아프다 and 나다 depends on whether the symptom is pain or emergence.
부터 marks a starting point in time or space, and it is essential for describing symptoms because duration is the first thing a doctor asks about. 어제부터, 아침부터, 삼 일 전부터. Attaching it directly to the time expression gives you 'since when' without any additional machinery.
Combining these gives the standard symptom report: time + 부터 + body part + 이/가 + 아파요. 삼 일 전부터 목이 아파요 covers what, where and how long in one sentence.
Japanese speakers will find 부터 maps closely onto から, including both the temporal and spatial uses.
Where You'll Hear It
Korean clinics start with 접수 at a reception desk, where you hand over your ID or insurance card and state your complaint briefly. This happens before you see a doctor, so having one clear sentence ready — 목이 아파서 왔어요 — makes the process smooth.
Korea's healthcare system is accessible and clinics are numerous, often occupying a floor of an ordinary commercial building. A 내과 is internal medicine, 이비인후과 is ear-nose-throat, 정형외과 is orthopaedics. Signs use these terms rather than general words, so recognising a few specialties helps you pick the right door.
처방전 is issued by the doctor and taken to a nearby 약국, which is almost always within a short walk. The pharmacy dispenses and explains dosage, typically packaging doses individually by time of day.
진통제 and other common medications are available without prescription for minor complaints, so a pharmacy visit alone is often enough.
Describing severity helps. 많이 아파요 ('it hurts a lot') and 조금 아파요 ('it hurts a little') add useful detail, and 어제부터 심해졌어요 ('it got worse since yesterday') communicates progression, which doctors specifically ask about.
Cultural & Language Note
Korean clinics operate on a walk-in basis far more than appointment-based systems elsewhere, and 접수 at the front desk is the first step. National health insurance keeps costs low for residents, and pharmacies sit adjacent to most clinics so that filling a 처방전 takes minutes. Specialists can usually be visited directly without a referral.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Korean marks the aching body part as the subject: 머리가 아파요, not 머리를 아파요 — 아프다 is descriptive, not an action performed on the head. Japanese speakers transfer 頭が痛い correctly, but English speakers often reach for an object particle. 나다 works the same way: 열이 나요, not 열을 나요.
How to Practice This Lesson
Learn the body-part-as-subject construction as a template and fill it with vocabulary: 머리가 아파요, 배가 아파요, 목이 아파요, 이가 아파요. The pattern never changes, so once you have five body parts you can describe most common complaints.
Separate 아프다 from 나다 by asking whether the symptom is pain or something appearing. Sort ten symptoms into the two groups and you will not have to think about it later.
Build one complete symptom sentence with 부터 and rehearse it, then swap the details. 어제부터 머리가 아파요 becomes 삼 일 전부터 기침이 나요 with no structural change.
Japanese speakers have a real advantage in this lesson, since both the body-part-subject construction and 부터 map closely onto Japanese. Confirm the correspondence quickly and spend the time on the specialty names instead, which have no shortcut and genuinely determine whether you walk into the right clinic.