Hospital and clinic Japanese: the words worth knowing before you need them

Medical situations appear in JFT-Basic because they appear in life. They are also the situations where a gap in vocabulary has consequences beyond a test score, so this is one topic worth over-learning.

Saying what is wrong

The pattern is simple and fixed:

[body part] が いたいです - my ~ hurts

あたま (head), おなか (stomach), のど (throat), は (tooth), こし (lower back), むね (chest), め (eye), みみ (ear).

And the states that are not pain:

• ねつが あります - I have a fever
• せきが でます - I have a cough
• きぶんが わるいです - I feel unwell
• めまいが します - I feel dizzy
• けがを しました - I have injured myself

What you will be asked

At a clinic reception, three questions come almost every time:

• ほけんしょうは ありますか - do you have your insurance card?
• どう しましたか - what is the matter?
• いつからですか - since when?

That last one needs a time expression back: きのうから (since yesterday), さんにちまえから (since three days ago). Time expressions are worth drilling for this reason alone - time expressions in JFT-Basic.

Instructions you must not misread

This is where the exam likes to set a question, and where real life is unforgiving:

Japanese	Meaning
しょくご	after meals
しょくぜん	before meals
いちにち さんかい	three times a day
～じかんごとに	every ~ hours
ぜんぶ のんでください	finish the whole course

A pharmacy label is exactly the kind of practical text the Reading section uses: short, factual, and hinging on one word. See how to read a Japanese notice.

At work

If you work in care, this vocabulary is your job rather than an emergency - see the nursing care route, which also requires a separate sector skills test.

For everyone else, the phrases that matter are about reporting:

• きぶんが わるいので、休んでも いいですか - I feel unwell, may I rest?
• びょういんに 行っても いいですか - may I go to the hospital?

Asking permission properly is a Conversation and Expression skill, covered in polite requests.

Learn this before you fly

Whatever your exam date, this is the section of vocabulary to learn early and keep. Nobody wants to be looking up のど in a waiting room.

Then check it has stuck under pressure: the free exam demo is a full 48-question mock on a 60-minute clock, and the practice test explains every answer.