Deutsch · A2 · vocabulary · 4 minutes
Health and the pharmacy
Describe pain, duration, symptoms, and medicine at a pharmacy.
Understand the choice
Health language separates a symptom, its duration, and needed treatment. Use seit for the timeline, gegen for what a medicine treats, and a body-part compound for many pains.
Core rule: Use seit + present for a condition continuing now; Schmerzen is often plural in compounds.
Notice it in context
Seit gestern habe ich Halsschmerzen und leichtes Fieber.
Since yesterday I have a sore throat and a slight fever.
Seit gestern establishes ongoing duration; habe remains present; Halsschmerzen and Fieber are symptoms.
In der Apotheke bekomme ich Tabletten gegen den Husten.
At the pharmacy I get tablets for the cough.
Apotheke, Tabletten, and Husten connect place, treatment, and target.
Für dieses Medikament brauche ich ein Rezept.
For this medicine I need a prescription.
Für takes accusative Medikament; Rezept is the required document.
What to remember
- Kopfschmerzen, Bauchschmerzen, and Halsschmerzen are normally plural.
- Rezept means both medical prescription and cooking recipe.
Common trap: Do not switch to past tense after seit when the symptom continues: seit gestern habe ich….