Dialogue: Chez le Médecin (A2)

A doctor's appointment in French is a compact grammar lesson. You cover the body-parts construction avoir mal à with its definite article (English speakers want a possessive, but French refuses); the depuis construction that pairs duration with the present tense; the partitive hidden inside avoir de la fièvre; and the formal imperative asseyez-vous.

This A2 dialogue between a doctor and patient walks through a routine consultation and unpacks the grammar behind every line.

The dialogue

Médecin : Bonjour. Asseyez-vous, je vous en prie. Qu'est-ce qui ne va pas ? Patient : Bonjour docteur. J'ai mal à la tête depuis trois jours. Et j'ai aussi mal à la gorge. Médecin : Vous avez de la fièvre ? Patient : Oui, un peu. Hier soir, j'avais 38,5. Médecin : Bon, je vais vous examiner. Ouvrez la bouche, s'il vous plaît… Toussez. Encore une fois. D'accord. Médecin : Ce n'est pas grave, c'est une angine. Voici une ordonnance — un antibiotique à prendre pendant sept jours, et du paracétamol si vous avez mal. Patient : Merci beaucoup, docteur. Médecin : Reposez-vous bien. Si ça ne va pas mieux dans une semaine, revenez me voir.

A complete consultation, with the structures you need to describe pain, accept a prescription, and follow medical advice.

Grammar in action

Qu'est-ce qui ne va pas ? — the question for "what's wrong"

The doctor's opening, Qu'est-ce qui ne va pas ?, is the standard French question for "What's wrong?" / "What's the matter?"

Three structural pieces:

• Qu'est-ce qui — the qui form (not que) because what here is the subject of the embedded clause. Compare with Qu'est-ce que tu fais ? where what is the object.
• Ne va pas — aller in the negative ("doesn't go"). The verb aller has a metaphorical "to be / to feel" meaning when applied to health, mood, situations: ça va = "things are OK", ça ne va pas = "things aren't OK".
• The whole expression literally means "What is it that doesn't go?" — i.e., what's wrong.

Variants you'll hear: Qu'est-ce qui vous amène ? ("What brings you here?"), Quel est le problème ? ("What's the problem?"), or the colloquial Qu'est-ce qu'il y a ? ("What's up?").

J'ai mal à la tête — avoir mal à with the definite article

The patient says J'ai mal à la tête and j'ai mal à la gorge. The structure avoir mal à + body part is how French expresses pain. Three rules to internalize:

1. Avoir mal, not être mal. Avoir is the verb. Être mal exists but means "to be uncomfortable / unwell" in a vague way, not localized pain.

2. À + definite article, never possessive. This is the rule that catches every English speaker. In English we say "my head hurts"; in French we say j'ai mal à la tête — literally "I have pain at the head". The body part takes the definite article (la tête, la gorge, le ventre, les yeux), never a possessive (ma tête, ta gorge).

The reason is that French treats the body as a known, contextual entity: when I am the speaker, "the head" automatically means "my head" — the possessive would be redundant and oddly emphatic.

3. Contractions with à. Remember that à + le = au, à + les = aux. So:

• avoir mal à la tête (la tête, fem. sg. → à la)
• avoir mal au ventre (le ventre, masc. sg. → au)
• avoir mal à l'estomac (vowel, → à l')
• avoir mal aux dents (les dents, fem. pl. → aux)

Depuis trois jours — duration with the present tense

The patient says J'ai mal à la tête depuis trois jours. The verb avoir is in the present tense, but the meaning is "I have been having a headache for three days" — a perfect-progressive sense in English.

The rule: depuis + duration takes the present tense in French when the action continues into the moment of speaking. This is one of the most reliable transfer errors for English speakers, because English mandates the perfect ("I have had", "I have been having") here.

• J'habite à Paris depuis cinq ans. — "I have lived in Paris for five years." (and still do)
• J'attends depuis dix minutes. — "I have been waiting for ten minutes." (and still am)
• Il est malade depuis lundi. — "He has been sick since Monday." (and still is)

If the action is finished, French switches to passé composé with pendant: J'ai habité à Paris pendant cinq ans — "I lived in Paris for five years" (and no longer do).

Vous avez de la fièvre ? — the partitive article

The doctor asks Vous avez de la fièvre ? The phrase avoir de la fièvre uses the partitive article de la.

The partitive (du, de la, de l', des) introduces an unspecified, uncountable quantity — like English "some". Fever, hunger, courage, patience: things you have some of without specifying how much.

Common health idioms: avoir de la fièvre ("to have a fever"), avoir de la chance ("to be lucky"), avoir de la peine ("to be sad"), avoir du courage, avoir du mal à ("to have trouble doing").

In negation, the partitive collapses to bare de: Je n'ai pas de fièvre (not de la fièvre). The same rule applies to indefinite articles: Il n'a pas d'amis.

Hier soir, j'avais 38,5 — imparfait for past states

The patient adds Hier soir, j'avais 38,5. The verb is imparfait (j'avais), not passé composé.

Why? Because the patient is describing a state at a past point in time, not a completed event. The temperature was 38.5 last night. There is no implication that something happened to it; it is reported as a steady-state condition. The imparfait is the natural tense for this.

If the patient said J'ai eu de la fièvre hier soir, the meaning would shift to "I got a fever last night" — with the fever as a punctual event that happened, not a state that persisted.

The general rule: imparfait for states and descriptions in the past, passé composé for events. Body temperature, pain levels, mood, weather, and ongoing conditions all default to imparfait.

(Note: French uses a comma as decimal separator, not a period. 38,5 is read trente-huit virgule cinq.)

Je vais vous examiner. Asseyez-vous. — futur proche and the formal imperative

The doctor's Je vais vous examiner is a futur proche. Aller (1st sg. vais) + the infinitive examiner + the object pronoun vous placed before the infinitive. Object pronoun position with futur proche: before the infinitive, not before aller. Je vais le manger (not Je le vais manger).

The next line, Asseyez-vous, is the formal imperative of the pronominal verb s'asseoir ("to sit down").

Two layers:

1. Pronominal verbs keep their reflexive pronoun in the imperative. The pronoun moves after the verb in the affirmative form, attached with a hyphen. 2. When the pronoun is the tu-form reflexive te, it switches to the tonic form toi: Lève-toi !, Assieds-toi ! (familiar). The vous form keeps vous: Levez-vous !, Asseyez-vous ! In negative imperatives, the pronoun returns to its weak form before the verb: Ne te lève pas, Ne vous asseyez pas là.

The verb s'asseoir has two acceptable conjugations in modern French (je m'assois and je m'assieds), both correct, with the assied family slightly more formal. The imperative forms most often used are assieds-toi / asseyez-vous (the -ied- family).

Voici une ordonnance — voici and à + infinitive

The pseudo-verb voici ("here is") presents an object directly to the listener. It is more formal than voilà, which has eaten most of voici's territory in casual speech, but in medical and legal contexts voici survives: voici votre ordonnance, voici les résultats.

The doctor adds un antibiotique à prendre pendant sept jours. The construction noun + à + infinitive expresses purpose or destination — "an antibiotic to be taken for seven days". High-frequency in instructions: un livre à lire, des médicaments à prendre.

Si vous avez mal — si + present, no future

The doctor's last line, Si ça ne va pas mieux dans une semaine, revenez me voir, contains a si-clause. The grammar rule is firm: in a real conditional, si never takes the future tense.

• Si
  • present tense
  , main clause in present, future, or imperative.
• Si vous avez mal, prenez du paracétamol. (si + present, imperative main clause)
• Si ça ne va pas mieux, revenez me voir. (si + present, imperative main clause)
• S'il pleut demain, on restera à la maison. (si + present, future main clause)

This rule contrasts with English ("If you will be in town tomorrow…"), but English actually drops the will in conditionals too ("If you are in town tomorrow…"). French is just stricter.

Common mistakes

These are the predictable trip-ups for English speakers in a French doctor's office.

The possessive (ma, ta, son…) is the English instinct; French refuses it for body parts in this construction. À la tête, au dos, aux dents — never à ma tête.

If the pain is still ongoing, the verb stays in the present tense. Passé composé would mean the pain stopped — which is not what the patient is describing.

Health states like fièvre, mal, courage, patience require the partitive in French. English simply drops the article ("I have fever"), but French does not.

The reflexive pronoun must agree with the imperative form: assieds-toi (familiar tu) and asseyez-vous (formal/plural vous). Don't mix them.

The future tense after si is one of the most chronic French errors. Stick to: si + present, then future or imperative in the main clause.

Key takeaways