32 | The Grapevine Issue 171 2014
Lynn Cobb
!NO ME
ENCUENTRO
BIEN!
Learn
Aprender
www.learn-aprender.blogspot.com.es www.facebook.com/LearnAprender
Years ago, when I was first learning
Spanish, I took a phone call from the
school where my then 5 & 8 year
old children attended. The school
secretary said ‘A Jessica no le
encuentra bien’ . Now, I knew that the
verb ENCONTRAR meant ‘to find’….
so I thought they’d lost my daughter!!
Then he said ‘tiene fiebre’ & I stopped
panicking!! …..we went to collect her.
ENCONTRAR – means to meet or to
find – but there’s a ‘reflexive’ version
ENCONTRARSE – reflexive verbs
are best described as something you
do to yourself – so what the secretary
was really saying was ‘Jessica
doesn’t find hereslf well’ – she didn’t
feel well!
¿Qué te pasa? ¿Qué te duele?
The doctor or pharmacist might ask
you either of these – what’s wrong?
where does it hurt? A friend might say
Tienes mala cara… literally ‘you have
a bad face’ – you don’t look well!
If you just don’t feel too good, you
would say No me encuentro bien
- I don’t feel well; if you have a
headache, say Me duele la cabeza,
or you have a sore throat – tengo
dolor de la garganta. If you have a
cold, say tengo un resfriado. Tengo
fiebre – I have a fever.
Estoy constipado/estoy constipada
doesn’t mean what you think it does –
you really want to say estoy estreñido/
estoy estreñida . Constipado means
congested (in the nose/head)...
estoy estreñido means what you
thought constipado meant! Diarrea ,
however, is what it seems….and so
much easier to spell in Spanish!
More about reflexive verbs another
time – but here’s some useful
vocabulary & phrases for going to the
doctor or farmacia.
Remember that pharmacists in
Spain can often prescribe for simple
ailments, do blood & urine tests, check
your blood pressure & cholestorol
among other things.
Lynn Cobb
If they feel that whatever ails you is
beyond their remit the will send you
to the doctor, of course.
Estoy regular might mean that you
are ‘regular’ (not estreñido ).. but it
also means that you feel OK; Estoy
fatal doesn’t mean that you’re dead
nor dying, but maybe you feel that
bad! A visit to the dentist might
make you feel nervioso (nervous), or
maybe you would say tengo miedo