3.7 Health and Emergencies

Understanding Health and Emergencies in Urdu

In this chapter you will learn how to talk about health, illness, and emergencies in Urdu, and how to manage basic real life situations such as visiting a doctor, describing symptoms, and asking for urgent help. The focus here is on communication, not on detailed grammar explanations.

Key Contexts for Health Language

When you talk about health in Urdu, you usually find yourself in one of these situations:

1. Describing how you feel
2. Explaining symptoms to a doctor
3. Understanding the doctor’s basic questions and instructions
4. Asking for help in an emergency
5. Talking about medicines and simple treatments

We will build expressions around these practical needs.

Basic Health Vocabulary and Simple Patterns

Words for “health” and “sickness”

Some core nouns that appear in many sentences:

You can combine these with simple present tense verbs you already know, such as:

• ہے (hai) = is
• ہیں (hain) = are
• کرنا (karna) = to do
• ہونا (hona) = to be / to happen

Examples:

• مجھے بخار ہے۔
  Mujhe bukhaar hai.
  “I have a fever.”
• مجھے زکام ہے۔
  Mujhe zukām hai.
  “I have a cold.”
• اسے کھانسی ہے۔
  Usay khānsī hai.
  “He / she has a cough.”

Describing Pain: Where and How Much

Core pattern: “I have pain in my …”

The most useful construction is:

Common body parts:

Examples:

• مجھے سر میں درد ہے۔
  Mujhe sar mein dard hai.
  “I have a headache.”
• اسے گلے میں درد ہے۔
  Usay galay mein dard hai.
  “He / she has a sore throat.”
• میرے پیٹ میں درد ہے۔
  Mere peṭ mein dard hai.
  “My stomach hurts.”

You can change مجھے to other pronouns:

Example:

• آپ کو کمر میں درد ہے؟
  Aap ko kamar mein dard hai?
  “Do you have back pain?”

Saying “a little” and “a lot”

To describe intensity:

You can put these before درد or before ہے.

Examples:

• مجھے تھوڑا سا سر میں درد ہے۔
  Mujhe thoṛā sa sar mein dard hai.
  “I have a slight headache.”
• اس کے پیٹ میں بہت زیادہ درد ہے۔
  Us ke peṭ mein bohat ziyāda dard hai.
  “He / she has very strong stomach pain.”

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Common Symptoms: Useful Phrases

Here are frequent symptoms and ready made sentences you can adjust.

Physical symptoms

Note the frequent expression:

• میری طبعیت ٹھیک نہیں ہے۔
  Merī tabiyat theek nahiñ hai.
  “I am not feeling well.”

This is a polite, common way to say you are unwell, without details.

Fever, cough, cold

Examples:

• مجھے بخار ہے اور کھانسی بھی ہے۔
  Mujhe bukhaar hai aur khānsī bhī hai.
  “I have a fever and also a cough.”
• اسے تیز بخار ہے۔
  Usay tez bukhaar hai.
  “He / she has high fever.”
• مجھے نزلہ اور زکام ہے۔
  Mujhe nazla aur zukām hai.
  “I have flu / cold.”

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At the Doctor: Typical Questions & Answers

When you visit a doctor, you need to understand typical questions and answer them simply.

Typical questions a doctor may ask

You can prepare short, clear answers.

Answering the doctor’s questions

Useful patterns:

• “Since yesterday / two days / one week”
• کل سے۔ Kal se. = “Since yesterday.”
• دو دن سے۔ Do din se. = “For two days.”
• ایک ہفتے سے۔ Ek haftay se. = “For one week.”
• “Yes, I have … / No, I do not have …”
• جی ہاں، ہے۔ Jī hān, hai. = “Yes, I have.”
• نہیں، نہیں ہے۔ Nahiñ, nahiñ hai. = “No, I do not have.”

Examples:

• ڈاکٹر: کب سے بخار ہے؟
  Doctor: Kab se bukhaar hai?
  Doctor: “Since when do you have a fever?”

مریض: دو دن سے۔
Mareez: Do din se.
Patient: “For two days.”

• ڈاکٹر: کیا آپ کو کھانسی ہے؟
  Doctor: Kya aap ko khānsī hai?
  Doctor: “Do you have a cough?”

مریض: جی ہاں، تھوڑی سی کھانسی ہے۔
Mareez: Jī hān, thoṛī sī khānsī hai.
Patient: “Yes, I have a little cough.”

• ڈاکٹر: کہاں درد ہے؟
  Doctor: Kahāñ dard hai?
  Doctor: “Where is the pain?”

مریض: میرے سر میں درد ہے۔
Mareez: Mere sar mein dard hai.
Patient: “I have pain in my head.”

Understanding Basic Instructions from the Doctor

Doctors often give short instructions. You should recognize key verbs and patterns even if you cannot catch every word.

Common instruction verbs

When speaking to you (polite), doctors usually use polite verb forms. Focus on the meaning, not on every grammar detail.

Typical doctor instructions

Try to catch time words like:

• روز roz = daily
• دن میں دو بار din mein do bār = twice a day
• رات کو raat ko = at night

Example:

• دن میں تین بار یہ دوا لیں۔
  Din mein tīn bār yeh dawā leñ.
  “Take this medicine three times a day.”

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Talking About Medicines and Treatment

Basic words for medicines

Useful patterns:

• مجھے درد کی دوا چاہئے۔
  Mujhe dard ki dawā chāhiye.
  “I need pain medicine.”
• کیا یہ دوا بخار کے لیے ہے؟
  Kya yeh dawā bukhaar ke liye hai?
  “Is this medicine for fever?”
• مجھے الَرژی کی دوا مت دیں۔
  Mujhe allergy ki dawā mat deñ.
  “Do not give me allergy medicine.”

Buying medicine at a pharmacy

Sample mini dialogues:

Dialogue 1: Asking for a medicine

ع: Customer
د: Pharmacist

• ع: مجھے سر درد کی دوا چاہئے۔
  Mujhe sardard ki dawā chāhiye.
  “I need medicine for headache.”
• د: دن میں کتنی بار لیں گے؟
  Din mein kitnī bār leñge?
  “How many times a day will you take it?”
• ع: ڈاکٹر نے دن میں دو بار کہا ہے۔
  Doctor ne din mein do bār kahā hai.
  “The doctor said twice a day.”

Dialogue 2: Checking how to take it

• ع: یہ دوا کیسے لینی ہے؟
  Yeh dawā kaise lenī hai?
  “How should I take this medicine?”
• د: دن میں تین بار، کھانے کے بعد۔
  Din mein tīn bār, khāne ke baad.
  “Three times a day, after food.”

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Emergencies: Asking for Immediate Help

In emergencies you need very clear, short sentences. Focus on key verbs like help, come, call, bring.

Core emergency expressions

Explaining what happened

Useful structures:

• [Person] کو [place] میں [thing] لگا۔
  “[Person] got hit by [thing] in [place].”
• [Person] گر گیا / گئی۔
  “[Person] fell.”

Examples:

• وہ سیڑھیوں سے گر گیا ہے۔
  Woh sīṛhiyoñ se gir gayā hai.
  “He fell from the stairs.”
• اس کو کار نے ٹکر ماری ہے۔
  Us ko car ne ṭakkar mārī hai.
  “A car hit him / her.”
• بچے کے سر میں چوٹ لگی ہے۔
  Bachay ke sar mein choṭ lagī hai.
  “The child has a head injury.”

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Describing Past Health Problems Briefly

You may need to mention past illnesses, especially allergies or serious conditions. You can do this in very simple ways, without complex tense explanations.

Patterns for past health issues

Common short expressions:

The simple pattern here is مجھے ... ہوا تھا for “I had ...” as a past illness.

Short Sample Dialogues

1. Simple doctor visit

ڈاکٹر: سلام، کیا مسئلہ ہے؟
Doctor: Salām, kya masla hai?
Doctor: “Hello, what is the problem?”

مریض: سلام، میری طبعیت ٹھیک نہیں ہے۔ مجھے بخار اور کھانسی ہے۔
Mareez: Salām, merī tabiyat theek nahiñ hai. Mujhe bukhaar aur khānsī hai.
Patient: “Hello, I am not feeling well. I have fever and cough.”

ڈاکٹر: کب سے بخار ہے؟
Doctor: Kab se bukhaar hai?
Doctor: “Since when do you have a fever?”

مریض: تقریباً تین دن سے۔
Mareez: Taqrīban tīn din se.
Patient: “For about three days.”

ڈاکٹر: گلے میں درد ہے؟
Doctor: Galay mein dard hai?
Doctor: “Do you have pain in the throat?”

مریض: جی ہاں، تھوڑا سا۔
Mareez: Jī hān, thoṛā sa.
Patient: “Yes, a little.”

ڈاکٹر: ٹھیک ہے، یہ دوا لیں۔ دن میں تین بار، کھانے کے بعد۔
Doctor: Theek hai, yeh dawā leñ. Din mein tīn bār, khāne ke baad.
Doctor: “Alright, take this medicine three times a day, after food.”

2. Calling for emergency help

آدمی: ہاں، ہسپتال؟ براہِ کرم ایمبولینس بھیجیں۔
Ādmī: Hān, hospital? Barāe karam ambulance bhejeñ.
Man: “Yes, hospital? Please send an ambulance.”

ہسپتال: کیا مسئلہ ہے؟
Hospital: Kya masla hai?
Hospital: “What is the problem?”

آدمی: میرے دوست کو سانس لینے میں دقت ہو رہی ہے۔
Ādmī: Mere dost ko saans lene mein diqqat ho rahi hai.
Man: “My friend is having difficulty breathing.”

ہسپتال: وہ ابھی کہاں ہیں؟
Hospital: Woh abhi kahāñ hain?
Hospital: “Where is he now?”

آدمی: وہ گھر پر ہیں، پتہ ہے: گلی نمبر پانچ، مکان نمبر دس۔
Ādmī: Woh ghar par hain, pata hai: gali number pāñch, makān number das.
Man: “He is at home, address is: street number five, house number ten.”

ہسپتال: ہم ایمبولینس بھیج رہے ہیں۔
Hospital: Hum ambulance bhej rahe hain.
Hospital: “We are sending an ambulance.”

Vocabulary List for This Chapter