At the Doctor's Office: Medical Marathi Phrases

You're at a clinic in Nashik with a fever that won't break, and the doctor asks कुठे दुखतंय? (kuthe dukhtay?) — /kuʈʰe dukʰtəj/ — "where does it hurt?" Your Hindi gets a blank look here; the receptionist switched to Marathi the moment you sat down. Medical Marathi is the vocabulary you hope you never need and are deeply grateful for when you do. The words below cover the questions a doctor will actually ask, the symptoms you'll need to name, and what to do at the pharmacy afterward.

कुठे दुखतंय? — Describing Where and How It Hurts

The first thing a Marathi-speaking doctor usually asks is location. कुठे दुखतंय? (kuthe dukhtay?) /kuʈʰe dukʰtəj/ means "where does it hurt?" — कुठे is "where" and दुखतंय is the colloquial present of दुखणे, "to hurt." A more formal version is कुठे दुखते आहे? (kuthe dukhte aahe?) /kuʈʰe dukʰte aːhe/. You'll hear the short form far more often. For the full set of question words like कुठे, the Marathi question words guide is worth a look before a clinic visit.

To answer, you name the type of pain. The two distinctions a doctor cares about most are sharp versus constant.

Devanagari	Romanization	IPA	English
तीव्र वेदना	tivra vedana	/tiːʋrə ʋeːdənaː/	sharp / severe pain
सतत वेदना	satat vedana	/sətət ʋeːdənaː/	constant pain
दुखणे	dukhne	/dukʰəɳe/	to hurt / to ache

वेदना (vedana) /ʋeːdənaː/ is the clinical word for "pain," more formal than the everyday दुखणे. तीव्र (tivra) means "sharp" or "intense"; सतत (satat) means "continuous." So तीव्र वेदना is a stabbing pain, सतत वेदना is the dull ache that never lets up.

The other question that always comes is duration: किती दिवसांपासून? (kiti divasanpasun?) /kitiː diʋəsaːmpaːsuːn/ — "since how many days?" किती is "how much/many," दिवस is "day," and -पासून is the postposition "since." You answer with a number plus दिवस: तीन दिवसांपासून (tin divasanpasun) /tiːn diʋəsaːmpaːsuːn/, "for three days."

A doctor may also probe how the pain behaves. Two follow-ups are common. कधीपासून सुरू झालं? (kadhipasun suru zala?) /kədʰiːpaːsuːn suruː d͡ʒʰaːlə/ means "since when did it start?" — कधी is "when," सुरू is "start," झालं is "happened." And वाढतंय का? (vadhtay ka?) /ʋaːɖʰtəj kaː/ asks "is it increasing?", with का marking the question. You can answer हो, वाढतंय (ho, vadhtay) /hoː ʋaːɖʰtəj/, "yes, it's increasing," or नाही, कमी होतंय (nahi, kami hotay) /naːhiː kəmiː hoːtəj/, "no, it's decreasing." कमी (kami) is "less."

ताप, डोकेदुखी, and the Symptoms You'll Need to Name

Once location and duration are settled, you name the symptom itself. These are the high-frequency ones, the vocabulary that covers most clinic visits.

Devanagari	Romanization	IPA	English
ताप	taap	/taːp/	fever
डोकेदुखी	dokedukhi	/ɖoːkedukʰiː/	headache
पोटदुखी	potdukhi	/poːʈdukʰiː/	stomach pain
खोकला	khokla	/kʰoːklaː/	cough
उलटी	ulti	/ulʈiː/	vomiting

Notice the pattern in डोकेदुखी and पोटदुखी: a body part (डोके, "head"; पोट, "stomach") fused with दुखी from दुखणे. The construction is productive, so you can build others the same way once you know the body part. To put a symptom into a sentence, the frame मला ___ आहे (mala ___ aahe) /mələ ___ aːhe/, "I have ___," does most of the work: मला ताप आहे (mala taap aahe) /mələ taːp aːhe/, "I have a fever." For the cough and vomiting, you'd more naturally say मला खोकला आहे (mala khokla aahe) and मला उलटी होतेय (mala ulti hotey) /mələ ulʈiː hoːtej/, "I'm vomiting," since उलटी pairs with होणे ("to happen") rather than असणे.

A short fragment is often enough at the counter. ताप आणि डोकेदुखी (taap aani dokedukhi) /taːp aːɳi ɖoːkedukʰiː/ — "fever and headache" — communicates plenty even without a full sentence. आणि (aani) is "and."

A few neighboring symptoms round out the set. "Loose motions," the standard Indian-English term a doctor will recognize, is जुलाब (julab) /d͡ʒulaːb/ in Marathi. "Weakness" or fatigue is अशक्तपणा (ashaktapana) /əʃəktəpəɳaː/, and "dizziness" is चक्कर (chakkar) /t͡ʃəkkəɾ/ — मला चक्कर येतेय (mala chakkar yetey) /mələ t͡ʃəkkəɾ jeːtej/, "I feel dizzy," literally "dizziness is coming to me." If breathing is the problem, श्वास घ्यायला त्रास होतोय (shwas ghyayla tras hotoy) /ʃʋaːs ɡʱjaːjlaː traːs hoːtoj/ — "I'm having trouble breathing" — is the sentence to say first and clearly. त्रास (tras) /traːs/ is "trouble/discomfort," a word that attaches to many symptoms.

औषध, डोस, and Talking to the Pharmacist

The medicine counter — मेडिकल (medical) in Mumbai usage, or औषधालय (aushadhalay) more formally — has its own small vocabulary. The pharmacist will dispense and then tell you how to take it, and these are the words that carry the instructions.

Devanagari	Romanization	IPA	English
औषध	aushadh	/əuʃədʰ/	medicine
डोस	dos	/ɖoːs/	dose
जेवणानंतर	jevnanantar	/d͡ʒeʋəɳaːnəntəɾ/	after meals
जेवणाआधी	jevnaadhi	/d͡ʒeʋəɳaːaːdʰiː/	before meals
गोळी	goli	/ɡoːɭiː/	tablet / pill

औषध (aushadh) /əuʃədʰ/ is the general word for medicine; a single tablet is a गोळी (goli) /ɡoːɭiː/ — note the ळ, the retroflex lateral that's distinctly Marathi. डोस (dos) is a borrowing from English "dose" and is used as-is. The two timing instructions are built from जेवण (jevan), "meal": जेवणानंतर (jevnanantar) is "after meals," जेवणाआधी (jevnaadhi) is "before meals." You'll hear these constantly, because the after/before-food distinction governs how most Indian prescriptions are dosed.

A useful question to ask back: हे औषध कसं घ्यायचं? (he aushadh kasa ghyaycha?) /he əuʃədʰ kəsə ɡʱjaːjt͡ʃə/ — "how should I take this medicine?" The pharmacist will answer with a timing word and a frequency like दिवसातून दोनदा (divsatun donda) /diʋsaːtuːn doːndaː/, "twice a day." Getting the retroflex ळ in गोळी and the aspirated घ in घ्यायचं right keeps you understood; the Marathi pronunciation guide walks through both sounds, which English speakers routinely flatten.

मला ___ ची ॲलर्जी आहे — Allergies and Chronic Conditions

The most important medical sentence to memorize is the one that prevents harm: stating an allergy. The frame is मला ___ ची ॲलर्जी आहे (mala ___ chi allergy aahe) /mələ ___ t͡ʃiː ɛləɾd͡ʒiː aːhe/, "I have an allergy to ___." You slot the substance into the blank, followed by ची (the possessive linker) and ॲलर्जी, the English loanword written with the distinctly Marathi ॲ (chandra-A) used for the English /æ/ vowel.

So "I have an allergy to penicillin" is मला पेनिसिलिनची ॲलर्जी आहे (mala penicillinchi allergy aahe) /mələ peːnisilint͡ʃiː ɛləɾd͡ʒiː aːhe/. For a common one, "I have a peanut allergy" is मला शेंगदाण्यांची ॲलर्जी आहे (mala shengdanyanchi allergy aahe) /mələ ʃeːŋɡdaːɳjaːnt͡ʃiː ɛləɾd͡ʒiː aːhe/ — शेंगदाणे being peanuts, which matters in a cuisine that uses them heavily.

Chronic conditions follow the simpler मला ___ आहे frame. The two you'll most likely need: मला मधुमेह आहे (mala madhumeh aahe) /mələ mədʰumeːh aːhe/, "I have diabetes," and मला रक्तदाब आहे (mala raktadab aahe) /mələ rəktədaːb aːhe/, "I have blood pressure" (the standard shorthand for hypertension). मधुमेह (madhumeh) is the Sanskrit-derived word for diabetes, literally "honey-urine." You may also hear the English "diabetes" used directly in urban clinics, but मधुमेह is universally understood.

It also helps to be able to say you're already on medication, so the doctor avoids a clash. मी रोज औषध घेतो (mi roj aushadh gheto) /miː roːd͡ʒ əuʃədʰ ɡʱeːtoː/ for a man, or घेते (ghete) /ɡʱeːte/ for a woman, means "I take medicine daily" — रोज (roj) is "daily." If you're pregnant, a critical disclosure before any prescription, मी गरोदर आहे (mi garodar aahe) /miː ɡəɾoːdəɾ aːhe/ — "I am pregnant" — is the sentence to lead with. गरोदर (garodar) /ɡəɾoːdəɾ/ is the everyday word.

Reading the Label on the Strip

The pharmacist hands you a foil strip of गोळ्या (tablets), and the printing is a mix of Marathi, English, and abbreviations. Knowing a few conventions keeps you from guessing.

Dosage timing is often printed as a three-number code like 1-0-1, read morning-afternoon-night. That means one tablet in the morning, none at midday, one at night — सकाळ (sakal) /səkaːɭ/ "morning," दुपार (dupar) /dupaːɾ/ "afternoon," रात्र (ratra) /raːtrə/ "night." So 1-1-1 is one tablet three times a day. This morning-noon-night code is near-universal on Indian prescriptions and labels.

You'll also see जेवणानंतर or जेवणाआधी printed near the dose, repeating the after/before-food instruction. Watch for the expiry, often labeled in English as "Exp" but sometimes as अंतिम तारीख (antim tarikh) /əntim taːriːkʰ/, "final date." And रिकाम्या पोटी (rikamya poti) /rikaːmjaː poːʈiː/ means "on an empty stomach," an instruction worth catching, since taking certain medicines with food blunts them. When in doubt about any printed word, the question हे काय आहे? (he kay aahe?) /he kaːj aːhe/, "what is this?", pointed at the label, gets you a plain answer.

Walking Into the Clinic Prepared

Medical situations are stressful enough without a language wall on top. The phrases that matter most are the few that prevent harm and speed care: कुठे दुखतंय and how to answer it, the symptom words like ताप and खोकला, the allergy frame मला ___ ची ॲलर्जी आहे, and the timing instructions जेवणानंतर and जेवणाआधी that govern every prescription. Write your allergies and chronic conditions on a card in Devanagari before you travel, and the hardest sentence is already handled. For the broader survival vocabulary that surrounds a clinic visit — directions to the नर्सिंग होम, asking a stranger for help — the essential Marathi phrases for travelers covers the connective tissue between symptoms and care. The Learn Marathi app from Brightwood Apps builds out this medical and pharmacy vocabulary in its health-themed units, with native-speaker audio from Pune and Mumbai clinics so you recognize दुखतंय and डोस at the speed a real doctor says them.