"I have a headache" in Korean is 머리가 아파요, literally "my head hurts", and at a pharmacy you follow it with 두통약 있어요?, "do you have headache medicine?". Those two sentences get you the medicine; the rest of the visit is the pharmacist asking two or three short questions, since when and how badly, and telling you how to take it.
Korean pharmacies, 약국, are everywhere in Seoul, marked with a green cross or the word 약 in big letters, and the pharmacist is the person who sells you medicine for a headache, a cold or an upset stomach without a prescription. You do not need a doctor for any of this, and you do not need much Korean. Here is what you need.
The three-line script
| You say | It means | Level |
|---|---|---|
| 머리가 아파요. | My head hurts. | 1B |
| 두통약 있어요? | Do you have headache medicine? | 1B |
| 감사합니다. 얼마예요? | Thank you. How much is it? | 1A |
The pattern in the first line is the one you will reuse for every other complaint: the body part, the particle 이/가, and 아파요. 아프다 is one of the words with ㅡ before 다, so the ㅡ drops out when you add the ending, and 아프다 becomes 아파요, not 아프어요. The grammar page in lesson 5 of Level 1B explains the rule, and the same lesson teaches the body parts.
The second line is 있어요?, "is there / do you have", from lesson 4 of Level 1A, with the medicine in front of it. 두통 is "headache" and 약 is "medicine"; together they are the word on the box.
- 머리가 아파요.My head hurts.1B
- 목이 아파요.My throat hurts.1B
- 배가 아파요.My stomach hurts.1B
- 열이 나요.I have a fever.1B
- 기침을 해요. 콧물이 나요.I'm coughing. I have a runny nose.1B
- 머리가 아파요.My head hurts.
- 목이 아파요.My throat hurts.
- 열이 나요.I have a fever.
- 콧물이 나요.I have a runny nose.
What the pharmacist asks back
The pharmacist will not hand over a box in silence. Expect two questions, sometimes three, all short.
언제부터 아파요? "Since when?" Answer with a time and 부터: 어제부터요, "since yesterday", 아침부터요, "since this morning". 부터 comes in lesson 4 of Level 1B, and the 요 on the end turns the short answer into a polite one.
많이 아파요? "Does it hurt a lot?" 네, 많이 아파요 or 조금 아파요, "a little". If you have other symptoms, this is where you add them: 열도 나요, "I have a fever too".
약 먹었어요? "Have you taken anything?" 아니요, 안 먹었어요, or 네, 먹었어요.
- 언제부터 아파요? — 어제부터요.Since when? — Since yesterday.1B
- 많이 아파요? — 조금 아파요.Does it hurt a lot? — A little.1B
- 약 먹었어요? — 아니요, 안 먹었어요.Have you taken any medicine? — No, I haven't.1B
Then comes the box, and with it the instructions. These are the lines to recognise rather than produce: 하루에 세 번, "three times a day"; 식사 후에 드세요, "take it after meals"; 물을 많이 드세요, "drink plenty of water"; 집에서 쉬세요, "rest at home". 드세요 is the respectful form of 먹어요 and 마셔요 that staff use with customers. You answer 네, 감사합니다 and you do not need to say it back.
- 어디가 아파요?Where does it hurt?
- 머리가 아파요. 두통약 있어요?My head hurts. Do you have headache medicine?
- 언제부터 아파요?Since when?
- 어제부터요. 많이 아파요.Since yesterday. It hurts a lot.
- 네. 하루에 세 번, 식사 후에 드세요.All right. Three times a day, after meals.
- 네, 감사합니다. 얼마예요?Thank you. How much is it?
Words on the box, for later
Lesson 5 of Level 1B gives you the body parts, 아프다, 감기, 열, 기침, 콧물 and 약, which is everything in the script above. The names of the medicines themselves come later, in Level 2B, because they are rare outside a pharmacy. You will see them on the boxes, so here they are to recognise:
- 감기약, cold medicine. 감기예요, "it's a cold", plus 감기약 있어요? works the same way as the headache script.
- 소화제, medicine for an upset stomach, and 진통제, a painkiller.
- 식후, "after meals", on the instructions. The pharmacist says 식사 후에; the box says 식후.
Our vocabulary page for health lists these with their levels and an example sentence each.
- The grammar page for ㅡ words read on a phone: why 아프다 becomes 아파요, with 바쁘다, 크다 and 쓰다 beside it, and the textbooks that teach it.
What we see in class
The pharmacy is one of the role plays we run in lesson 5 of Level 1B, and the same thing happens every time. Students know the words and drop the particle: 머리 아파요, 목 아파요. It is understood, and a pharmacist will not blink, but the habit spreads. A student who drops 가 here will drop 은/는 and 을/를 everywhere, and that is the mistake we see most in beginners, more than mixing the particles up. We ask students to keep the particle in while they are learning; 머리가 아파요 costs one syllable and keeps the grammar they will need in every later sentence.
The second thing we see is students preparing too much. They arrive at the counter with a paragraph in English about how the headache started, and the pharmacist, who deals with this many times a day, wants three facts: where, since when, how much. What worked in class was cutting the role play down to exactly that, the three-line script and the three questions, and running it until nobody had to think. What did not work was teaching the medicine names early; students memorised 진통제 and 소화제 and then could not say 머리가 아파요 without stopping to think, which is the one sentence that actually matters.
Our pages share the work the way the course does. The grammar page explains why 아프다 becomes 아파요, the vocabulary page lists the body parts and the symptoms with levels, and the practice set in lesson 5 of Level 1B is where you put them together. None of them stands behind a counter with you, so say the script out loud before you need it.
Questions people ask
Can I just say 아파요 and point?
Yes, and it works, especially with 여기, "here", while pointing: 여기가 아파요. Pharmacists see foreigners every day. But 머리가 아파요 is not harder, and it answers the first question before it is asked.
What if the pharmacist says something I do not understand?
Say 네? with a rising voice and they will repeat, usually more slowly, often with gestures or the box itself. The instructions are also printed on the box or written on the paper bag, so you can check 하루에 세 번 and 식후 at home.
Do I need a prescription for headache medicine in Korea?
No. Headache and cold medicine, painkillers and stomach medicine are sold at the pharmacy counter without one. A prescription is for medicine a doctor has ordered, which is a different visit and a different guide.