At the Doctor's Office: Medical Amharic Phrases

You've had a headache for three days, or a cough that won't clear, and pointing at your own forehead only gets a nurse so far. Ethiopian clinics, especially outside Addis Ababa, run mostly in Amharic. Knowing how to describe where it hurts, how long it's been going on, and what you're allergic to turns a frustrating appointment into a fast one.

This is a working phrasebook for a doctor's visit: naming the pain, listing common symptoms, getting a prescription filled, flagging allergies and ongoing conditions, and reading what's actually printed on an Amharic medication label.

Saying Where It Hurts

The core Amharic verb for pain is ይጠቅሳል (yiteksal), it pinches or hurts. The body part goes first, the verb follows.

ራሴ ይጠቅሳል (Rase yiteksal), My head hurts.

ሆዴ ይጠቅሳል (Hode yiteksal), My stomach hurts.

Ras (ራስ) is head, hod (ሆድ) is stomach, and the possessive suffix -e on each means "my." This pattern is reusable: swap in nearly any body part and the sentence still works. Once you have the verb, you have a template.

Sharp, dull, and how long

Doctors will ask you to characterize the pain, not just locate it. Two words cover most of what you'll need:

ስለታም (siletam), sharp.

ደብዛዛ (debzaza), dull.

ህመሙ ስለታም ነው (Himemu siletam new), The pain is sharp.

ህመሙ ደብዛዛ ነው (Himemu debzaza new), The pain is dull.

Himem (ህመም) is the general word for pain or illness, and it's worth knowing on its own: a doctor may simply ask ምን ህመም አለብህ? (Min himem alebih?), What pain do you have? (addressed to a man; a woman would hear alebish).

For duration, Amharic doesn't complicate things. ከሶስት ቀን ጀምሮ (Ke-sost ken jemro), Since three days ago, or literally "starting from three days." Sost (ሶስት) is three, and ken (ቀን) is day, so you can slot in other numbers: ከአንድ ሳምንት ጀምሮ (Ke-and samint jemro), Since one week, using samint (ሳምንት) for week. Say the duration phrase right after naming the symptom, and the sentence carries everything a doctor needs.

Common Symptoms: Fever, Headache, Stomach, Cough

Some symptoms come up often enough that they deserve their own fixed phrases rather than the general pain template.

Symptom	Ge'ez Script	Romanization	Meaning
Fever	ትኩሳት አለኝ	Tikusat alleñ	I have a fever
Headache	ራሴ ይጠቅሳል	Rase yiteksal	My head hurts
Stomach pain	ሆዴ ይጠቅሳል	Hode yiteksal	My stomach hurts
Cough	ሳል አለብኝ	Sal alebiñ	I have a cough
Sore throat	ጉሮሮዬ ይቆስላል	Gurorоye yikoslal	My throat hurts
Vomiting	ማስታወክ አለብኝ	Mastawek alebiñ	I have vomiting/nausea
Diarrhea	ተቅማጥ አለብኝ	Tekmat alebiñ	I have diarrhea

ትኩሳት (tikusat) is the standard word for fever, and alleñ simply means "I have," the same construction that shows up across Amharic for expressing possession or an ongoing condition. If you want to be more specific about the fever itself, ትኩሳቴ ከፍተኛ ነው (Tikusatе kifitegna new), My fever is high, adds detail a doctor will want.

ሳል አለብኝ (Sal alebiñ) uses a slightly different construction than alleñ, the suffix -bi- before the pronoun marks something as being "on" you, which is how Amharic frames a symptom that's currently active rather than simply possessed. You'll hear this same -alebiñ pattern across several of the phrases above: it's productive, so once you recognize it, new symptom words slot in easily.

Nurse: ምን ችግር አለብህ? (Min chigir alebih?), What's the problem? You: ከትናንት ጀምሮ ትኩሳት እና ሳል አለብኝ። (Ke-tinant jemro tikusat ina sal alebiñ.), I've had a fever and a cough since yesterday. Nurse: ራስህ ይጠቅሳል? (Rasih yiteksal?), Does your head hurt? You: አዎ፣ ትንሽ። (Awo, tinish.), Yes, a little.

That exchange covers the most common opening of an Ethiopian clinic visit almost word for word. Tinant (ትናንት) is yesterday, and pairing it with ke-___ jemro lets you date any symptom precisely.

Getting a Prescription and Talking to the Pharmacist

Once a doctor has seen you, the next stop is the pharmacy, ፋርማሲ (farmasi), a direct loan word that every Ethiopian recognizes on a sign. It's one of the words worth spotting on sight even before you can read full sentences of Ge'ez script, alongside the handful of practical signage covered in 30 essential Amharic phrases for travelers.

ማዘዣ ይስጡኝ (Mazeza yisitugn), Please give me a prescription.

Mazeza (ማዘዣ) is the word for prescription or written order, and yisitugn is a polite imperative, give (to) me. If a doctor hasn't offered one and you think you need medication, this is the direct way to ask.

ይህን መድሃኒት የት አገኛለሁ? (Yihin medhanit yet agegnalehu?), Where can I get this medicine?

Medhanit (መድሃኒት) is medicine, and this phrase works whether you're holding a written prescription or just naming a drug you already know you need.

At the pharmacy counter itself, a short set of phrases covers most transactions:

Phrase	Ge'ez Script	Romanization
Do you have this medicine?	ይህ መድሃኒት አለ?	Yih medhanit ale?
How do I take this?	እንዴት ልውሰደው?	Indet liwsedew?
How many times a day?	በቀን ስንት ጊዜ?	Beken sint gize?
Before or after food?	ከምግብ በፊት ወይስ በኋላ?	Ke-migib befit weyis bihuala?
How much does it cost?	ስንት ነው?	Sint new?

እንዴት ልውሰደው? (Indet liwsedew?) is worth memorizing exactly. Pharmacists in Ethiopia are generally well trained and will walk you through dosage verbally even if the label itself is sparse, so asking this question out loud gets you real instructions rather than guesswork. በቀን ስንት ጊዜ? (Beken sint gize?), how many times a day, is the natural follow-up, gize (ጊዜ) means time or occasion, and Ethiopians use it the same way English uses "times" when counting repetitions.

Allergies and Ongoing Conditions

Getting an allergy across clearly matters more in a pharmacy than almost anywhere else you'll use Amharic. The construction is fixed and simple to reuse.

ለ___ አለርጂ አለኝ (Le-___ allerji alleñ), I am allergic to ___.

The prefix le- marks whatever you're allergic to, and allerji is a loan word understood everywhere, even by pharmacy staff with limited English.

• ለፔኒሲሊን አለርጂ አለኝ (Le-penicillin allerji alleñ), I am allergic to penicillin.
• ለለውዝ አለርጂ አለኝ (Le-lewuz allerji alleñ), I am allergic to nuts. (lewuz = ለውዝ = nuts/peanuts)
• ለወተት አለርጂ አለኝ (Le-wetet allerji alleñ), I am allergic to dairy. (wetet = ወተት = milk)

Chronic conditions use a related but distinct pattern, naming the condition with alleñ directly rather than through le-.

የስኳር በሽታ አለኝ (Ye-sikuar beshita alleñ), I have diabetes.

Sikuar (ስኳር) literally means sugar, and beshita (በሽታ) means disease or illness, so the phrase reads almost transparently once you know the two nouns. The same frame covers other conditions:

የደም ግፊት አለኝ (Ye-dem gifit alleñ), I have high blood pressure.

Dem (ደም) is blood, and gifit (ግፊት) is pressure, so ye-dem gifit is literally "of blood pressure." Write your chronic conditions and allergies down in Amharic before you travel or before a serious appointment. A stressed moment in a clinic is not when you want to be recalling vocabulary from memory, and a written card removes that risk entirely. This is the same advice worth following for emergency situations generally: a prepared card in Ge'ez script communicates even when your spoken Amharic falters under pressure.

Reading an Amharic Medication Label

Ethiopian pharmacies stock both imported drugs (labeled in English) and locally packaged or repackaged medication with Amharic text added, often a sticker over the original box. Four words show up on nearly every label and are worth recognizing on sight.

Ge'ez	Romanization	Meaning
መድሃኒት	Medhanit	Medicine
መጠን	Meten	Dose/amount
ጡባ	Tuba	Tablet/pill
ቀን	Ken	Day

A typical instruction sticker reads something close to በቀን ሶስት ጊዜ አንድ ጡባ (Beken sost gize and tuba), One tablet, three times a day. Breaking it down: beken (በቀን) means "per day," sost gize (ሶስት ጊዜ) is "three times," and and tuba (አንድ ጡባ) is "one tablet." The structure runs frequency first, dosage last, the reverse of how English phrases it.

If the label only shows a number and the word ጡባ (tuba), that number is the dose count, and you should still ask the pharmacist በቀን ስንት ጊዜ? to confirm timing, since Ethiopian labels are sometimes less detailed than what pharmacies in the US or UK produce. When in doubt, verbal confirmation from the pharmacist outranks the label.

What Makes This Vocabulary Different From Everyday Amharic

Medical Amharic leans heavily on Amharic's own vocabulary (himem, beshita, tikusat) rather than English loan words, which is unusual, since Ethiopian technical and professional speech otherwise borrows constantly. Farmasi and allerji are the exceptions, both loans, both instantly recognizable. Everything else, the pain verbs, the condition names, the dosage words, comes from Amharic's own root system, which means the effort of learning this set pays off precisely because it can't be shortcut with English cognates the way ordering coffee sometimes can.

Pronunciation matters more here than in casual conversation, since a mispronounced dosage word can genuinely confuse a pharmacist. The ejective consonants covered in the Amharic pronunciation guide, the sharp, popped release in words like tuba and tikusat, are worth a few minutes of review before a clinic visit. Getting close is usually enough; native speakers are used to foreigners softening these sounds and will still understand you, but the clearer you are, the fewer follow-up questions you'll field while you're not feeling well.

If you want to build this vocabulary with native-speaker audio before you need it under pressure, the Learn Amharic app covers medical phrases and body-part vocabulary within its early units, with listening exercises that get the pain-verb pattern into your ear well before a clinic visit makes it urgent.