Telling doctor stomach hurts: Saying your stomach hurts and for how long

💬 The 了 at the end makes this about time up to now, "how long so far". You answer with the same 了: 三天了 "three days now".

💬 大概 (dàgài) "about, roughly" goes before the amount of time. Use 兩 (liǎng), not 二, when counting things like days: 兩個星期了 "two weeks now".

💬 一直 here is read (yìzhí), because 一 changes to the fourth tone before 直. It means "constantly, nonstop".

💬 是 A，還是 B？ asks someone to pick between two choices. 還是 means "or" only in questions like this: 是今天，還是明天？ "is it today or tomorrow?"

💬 完 after an action means it's finished: 吃完 "done eating", 看完 "done watching". In Taiwan, 吃飯 is used for eating a meal in general, not only rice.

💬 Put 比較 (bǐjiào) before a feeling word to mean "more" or "-er", even when nothing else is being compared: 比較好 "better".

💬 指給我看 is literally "point to give me a look". Adding 給我看 after an action means "show me by doing it": 寫給我看 "write it out for me".

💬 Taiwan says 這裡 (zhèlǐ) where mainland speakers often say 这儿 (zhèr). Taiwanese Mandarin rarely uses the "r" sound.

💬 In Chinese the location word comes after the thing: 肚子上面 is "stomach + top". For the lower part, swap in 下面: 肚子下面.

💬 The word breaks down as 腸 "intestines" + 胃 "stomach" + 炎 "inflammation". Many illness names end in 炎 the same way, such as 肺炎 "pneumonia".

🇹🇼 Taiwanese doctors say this diagnosis very often for stomach complaints. It's commonly treated with a few days of medicine rather than further tests.

💬 應該 usually means "should", but here it means "probably". It's a doctor's soft way of giving a likely diagnosis.

💬 Use 的 to link an amount of time to a thing: 三天的藥 is "three days' medicine", and 一個星期的藥 is "a week's medicine".

💬 開 (kāi) usually means "open", but with 藥 it means "to prescribe". 開藥 is the set phrase for writing a prescription.

🇹🇼 Taiwanese clinics usually hand you the medicine on the spot, pre-sorted into small packets for each dose. 先 "first" signals you may come back if it doesn't clear up.

💬 Put 多 before an action to mean "do more of it": 多休息 "rest more", 多吃水果 "eat more fruit".

💬 不要 (búyào) plus an action means "don't do it". 不 is read with a rising tone before the falling 要.

🇹🇼 Taiwanese doctors routinely add diet advice like this with any stomach diagnosis. Fried food and ice-cold drinks are often off the list too.