Annotated Dialogue: At the Doctor's (B1)

A visit to the huisarts (GP) is one of the first "high-stakes" conversations a learner needs in Dutch, and it runs on a small, fixed set of phrases that almost never vary: Waar heeft u last van?, Ik heb last van..., Waar doet het pijn?, Ik schrijf u een recept voor. This page gives an original doctor–patient dialogue and annotates the grammar that makes it work — above all the constructions last hebben van and pijn doen, the formal u, and the use of sinds with the present tense. The dialogue is composed for this lesson.

The dialogue

Dokter: Goedemorgen, gaat u zitten. Wat kan ik voor u doen? Patiënt: Goedemorgen, dokter. Ik heb al een paar dagen last van mijn keel. Dokter: Sinds wanneer heeft u er last van? Patiënt: Sinds maandag. En sinds gisteren heb ik ook koorts. Dokter: Doet het pijn als u slikt? Patiënt: Ja, het doet behoorlijk pijn, vooral 's ochtends. Dokter: Mag ik even kijken? Doet dit pijn? ... Uw keel is flink ontstoken. Patiënt: Is het ernstig? Dokter: Nee, het valt mee. Ik schrijf u een antibioticakuur voor. Neem driemaal daags één tablet, na het eten. Patiënt: Hoelang moet ik die innemen? Dokter: Tien dagen. Als u zich over een week niet beter voelt, komt u terug.

Translation: "Doctor: Good morning, take a seat. What can I do for you? — Patient: Good morning, doctor. For a few days now I've had trouble with my throat. — Doctor: Since when have you had trouble with it? — Patient: Since Monday. And since yesterday I've also had a fever. — Doctor: Does it hurt when you swallow? — Patient: Yes, it hurts quite a bit, especially in the mornings. — Doctor: May I take a look? Does this hurt? ... Your throat is badly inflamed. — Patient: Is it serious? — Doctor: No, it's not too bad. I'm prescribing you a course of antibiotics. Take one tablet three times a day, after meals. — Patient: How long do I have to take them? — Doctor: Ten days. If you don't feel better in a week, come back."

What's happening grammatically

last hebben van: the key complaint phrase

The single most important construction here is last hebben van + a noun — literally "to have trouble/bother from," used for "to be bothered by, to suffer from, to have problems with." The preposition is fixed: it is always van, never met or over. Ik heb last van mijn keel = "my throat is bothering me / I have trouble with my throat." This is the default way a Dutch patient states a symptom.

When the thing bothering you has already been mentioned, you replace van + it with the pronominal adverb er... van (here split): Sinds wanneer heeft u *er last van? = "since when have you had trouble with it?" This *er...van split is exactly the construction English lacks, and it trips learners up.

pijn doen: how Dutch says "to hurt"

To express that something hurts, Dutch uses pijn doen — literally "to do pain." The thing that hurts is the subject: het doet pijn = "it hurts," mijn keel doet pijn = "my throat hurts." To say who it hurts, add an indirect object: het doet me pijn = "it hurts me." Note that doen is the verb (conjugated doet), and pijn is the noun object that stays put.

The formal u and its verb agreement

A doctor's visit is conducted in the formal u ("you," polite), not the informal je/jij. The grammar of u has one feature learners must nail: with u, the verb takes the same form as the third person singular (the -t form), and questions invert it. So u heeft / u kan in a statement, but Heeft u...? / Kan ik voor u...? in a question. (Both u heeft and the slightly more formal u hebt are correct; u heeft is the more common everyday choice.)

sinds + the present tense for an ongoing state

This is a major English–Dutch divergence. For an action or state that began in the past and still continues, Dutch uses sinds ("since") with the present tense, where English uses the present perfect. Ik heb sinds maandag last van mijn keel — literally "I have since Monday trouble with my throat" — translates as "I've had trouble with my throat since Monday." Dutch reasons that the trouble is happening right now, so it stays present.

The separable verb voorschrijven: "to prescribe"

"To prescribe" is voorschrijven, a separable verb (particle voor- + schrijven, "to write"). In a main clause the particle splits off and goes to the end: Ik schrijf u een recept voor = "I'm writing you a prescription." The indirect object u ("you") and direct object een recept sit in the middle, and the particle voor closes the clause. Don't confuse it with the preposition voor ("for"); here voor is the verb's particle.

Dosage and the verb innemen

Instructions for taking medicine use innemen ("to take (medicine)"), another separable verb, and the fixed dosage adverbs driemaal daags ("three times a day"), 's ochtends / 's avonds ("in the morning / evening"). Note innemen (medicine) versus plain nemen — in everyday speech neem driemaal daags één tablet with plain nemen is also perfectly normal, but innemen is the precise medical verb.

Vocabulary and cultural note

Key words: de huisarts (GP, literally "house doctor"), het recept (prescription — note: also "recipe"!), de kuur (a course of treatment), ontstoken (inflamed), de koorts (fever), slikken (to swallow). Two useful idioms appear: het valt mee ("it's not as bad as feared / it's not too bad") and its opposite het valt tegen ("it's worse than expected"). Culturally, the Dutch huisarts is famous for a cautious, wait-and-see approach — you may well be told neem paracetamol en kom over een week terug ("take paracetamol and come back in a week") rather than be handed antibiotics, so the prescription in our dialogue is the doctor responding to a genuinely inflamed throat. The whole visit is conducted in polite u, which signals the professional register.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• last hebben van
  • noun is the core complaint phrase — the preposition is always van; for "trouble with it" use the split er... last... van.
• pijn doen = "to hurt," with the painful thing as the subject: het doet pijn, mijn keel doet pijn.
• A doctor's visit runs in formal u: the verb takes the -t form, inverts in questions (Heeft u...?), and the reflexive is zich (u voelt zich).
• Use sinds + present tense for a condition that started in the past and continues now — where English uses the present perfect.
• voorschrijven ("to prescribe") and innemen ("to take medicine") are separable: the particle goes to the end of a main clause (Ik schrijf u een recept voor).