13: A visit to the doctor

Hello, once again, and welcome to Learn French by Podcast. My name is Hugh Nagel, and here with me is Amélie Verdier, bonjour Amélie, bonjour and Julien Grouet, bonjour Julien, bonjour. In today's podcast, we're going to be paying a visit to the doctor, we'll see how to explain what's wrong with us, and we'll discover some vocabulary the doctor will use which might be new to us, and on Z. Bonjour, bonjour doctor, alors dites-moi qu'est-ce qu'il ne va pas? Eh bien, depuis quelques jours, j'ai mal à mon oreille droite, je dois prendre la viande en trois jours, et j'aimerais savoir si mon état me le permet. Ah, avez-vous souvent eu des outils? Non, pas que je sache, avez-vous eu mal à la tête? Non, des vertiges, non plus, de la fièvre, je ne pense pas, bien, on va regarder ça, assez y vous. Je dois me déshabiller? Non, ce ne sera pas nécessaire, je vais juste examiner l'intérieur de votre oreille. Ah oui, c'est un peu enflé, il y a une légère secretion. C'est grave, docteur? Non, non, juste une petite infection. Vous pourrez prendre votre avion sur le moindre risque. Je vais tout de même vous prescrire des goûts à mettre dans votre oreille. Quatre goûts, trois fois par jour. De toute façon, c'est écrit sur l'ordonnance. Merci, docteur. Encore une chose, éviter de mettre la tête dans l'eau. Voilà, ça fera donc 21 euros. Let's listen to the first part of this conversation again. Alors, dites-moi, qu'est-ce qu'il ne va pas? Eh bien, depuis quelques jours, c'est mal à mon oreille droite. And one more time. Emily, you said that you had ear ache. How did you say that? J'ai mal à mon oreille droite. Let's hear that again. J'ai mal à. So, how would you say, "I have stomach ache", or "I have a pain in my stomach"? J'ai mal au ventre. J'ai mal au ventre. And now, I have back ache, would be. J'ai mal au d'eau. And again, j'ai mal au d'eau. Note that in these two cases, j'ai mal au ventre. And j'ai mal au d'eau. We're talking about masculine nouns, le ventre, and le d'eau. If we were to say, "my hand is sore", how would we say that? J'ai mal à la main. And again. J'ai mal à la main. So, the key expression is j'ai mal à. Remember, j'ai mal à is used when we're speaking of an ache or soreness. One other thing that we need to remember is that, as we have heard, the form of the expression will change, depending on what we're talking about a masculine, feminine, or plural noun. After long hike, for example, I might say j'ai mal au pie, to describe my aching feet. That's the form in the case of a plural noun. If my knee is giving me trouble, I'll say j'ai mal au genoux. This is the form in the case of a masculine noun, and so on. Now, if this sounds complicated, don't worry. It's explained in the PDF guide which accompanies this lesson, downloadable from our website at www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com. Before moving on, let's watch one final expression. J'ai mal au cœur. J'ai mal au cœur. This expression means "un feeling nauseous". It is an exception to the pattern we've been discussing. Emily, you wanted to know if you could still travel by plane with an ear infection. Let's hear what you said. "Je dois prendre la vie en dans trois jours, et j'aimerais savoir si mon état me le permet." And once again? "Et j'aimerais savoir si mon état me le permet." Rematically speaking, "J'aimerais" is the verb "emée" in the conditional mood. It's the form of the verb which conveys the meaning "I would like", "I would do", "I would go", and so on. I would like to know if there's a taxi "would be". J'aimerais savoir s'il y a un taxi. I would like to know if there's a flight this afternoon. J'aimerais savoir s'il y a un vol cet après-midi. So, let's remember that expression. J'aimerais savoir si. And don't forget, we could replace the verb "savoir" with the infinitive of other verbs. J'aimerais manger, "I'd like to eat", "j'aimerais sortir", "I'd like to go out". J'aimerais voir ça, "I'd like to see that", and so on. Emily, you were particularly concerned about your ear infection. You told the doctor, "I must take the plane in three days". You said, "Je dois prendre la viande en trois jours". And again? Je dois prendre la viande en trois jours. Je dois, that's the first person singular of the verb "devoir" to have to or to be due to. It's an easy verb to use in all sorts of combinations. We simply put the infinitive of the second verb after it. Je dois partir, "elle doit choisir", "nous devant décider", and so on. The doctor asked a series of questions. Emily, you answered "No" in each case. Let's listen again to the slight variations in your replies. First, you said, "No, not as far as I know". Non, pas que je sache? Then, in relation to disease spells, "no" nor those. Non plus? And finally, I don't think so. Je ne pense pas. Let's listen one final time to this exchange. the doctor said, "I'm going to examine and I'm going to prescribe". This kind of expression is likely isn't it during a visit to the doctor. He will certainly tell us what he is going to do. Let's listen again, attentively, he spoke quite quickly. First, he said, "Je vais juste examiner l'intérieur de votre reille". And once again, "Je vais juste examiner l'intérieur de votre reille". And then, "Je vais tout de même vous prescrire des goûts". And once again, "Je vais tout de même vous prescrire des goûts". Je vais examiner, "Je vais vous prescribe". This is to examples again of the immediate future, the combination of the verb allé, followed by the infinitive of a second verb. Once again, we could have all sorts of possibilities. Je vais retrouver mes amis en ville, elle va étudier à New York, il va nous rendre visit ce week-end, and so on. Now when you had to settle the bill, the doctor said, "ça fera 20 €". And one more time, "ça fera 20 €". "ça fera", "that will be", or literally "that will make". Now generally, if we simply wish to say, "How much is that?", we can say, "ça fait combien?". In relation to something with a 30 € price tag, the shopkeeper might respond, "ça fait 30 €". We may hear that expression in the present tense, "ça fait 30 €". That is, or "that makes", or we may hear the verb "faire" in the future tense, "ça fera". that will be. Now we could also encounter the verb coupé to cost. When we approach the counter in a shop with something we wish to buy, we could simply say, "kom ya sakut?" And one more time? "kom ya sakut?" Another possibility would be "sakut kombia". "Sakut kombia". The shopkeeper might respond, "sakut 30€". "Sakut 30€". In summary then, we have two options when asking the price of something. "Safé kombia" and "sakut kombia". Amelia and Julia, once again, we've covered a lot today. We've seen how to explain to a doctor that there's something wrong. We should be able to figure out what treatment he's going to provide and we've learned some other useful expressions too. Until next time.