2.2 A visit to the doctor

Let’s take a closer look at the dialogue between a patient and a doctor. It starts with usual greeting Dobryi den (‘Good day!’), after which doctor asks Shcho u vas bolyt? which literally means ‘What pain do you have?’) This is a plural form. Let’s repeat it together: Shcho u vas bolyt?_______ Shcho u vas bolyt?___________. Singular form is Shcho v tebe bolyt? Let’s repeat together: Shcho v tebe bolyt?___________ Shcho v tebe bolyt?____________.

The patient answers: U mene bolyt horlo, holova i vysoka temperatura, which means ‘My throat hurts, I have a headache and a high temperature’. Let’s look attentively at this sentence. If you want to say in Ukrainian that you feel pain, you should say u mene bolyt (‘I have pain’) and name body part. Let’s say together: u mene bolyt horlo _________ (‘My throat hurts’), u mene bolyt horlo ___________. Another example: u mene bolyt holova ______ (‘I have a headache’), u mene bolyt holova _______. Please note that prepositions u and v are interchangeable in Ukrainian, they mean the same. One can say: u mene bolyt holova and v mene bolyt holova.

Let’s continue with the dialogue. Since word temperatura (‘temperature’) is a feminine noun, adjective vysokyi (‘high’) is used in feminine form: vysoka temperatura ___________, vysoka temperatura __________.

Doctor replies: U vas tonzylit. Treba pyty antybiotyky. (‘You have tonsillitis. You need to use antibiotics’ and asks: U vas ye alerhiia na liky? (literally ‘Do you have an allergy to any medicines?’). Let’s repeat together: liky _____ liky ____. The patient answers: Ni (‘No’). Doctor says: Dobre. Os retsept na liky (‘Good. Here is a prescription for medication’). The patient asks: Yak dovho treba pyty antybiotyky? (‘How long should I take antibiotics?’). Verb pyty means ‘to drink’. Since drugs are often pills which are taken with water, they often say in Ukrainian pyty liky (‘to drink drugs’).

Doctor answers: Piat dniv, ves kurs (‘Five days, whole course’). Then patient thanks the doctor and says goodbye: Diakuiu, do pobachennia! The doctor replies: Oduzhuite! Budte zdorovi! which means ‘Get well! Be healthy!’ The last phrase is sometimes used in Ukraine in the meaning of ‘goodbye’. Let’s say these phrases together: oduzhuite! ________(‘get well!’), oduzhuite! ________; budte zdorovi! _________ (‘be healthy!’), budte zdorovi! __________ .

Now listen to the dialogue once again.