Visiting a Doctor

Situation

Tanaka-san hasn't felt well since yesterday and books an appointment at a neighborhood clinic. Dr. Yamada is on duty. The scene unfolds in the examination room—Tanaka describes his symptoms, gets a diagnosis, and leaves knowing exactly how to take his medicine.

Dialogue

Key Vocabulary

Grammar Notes

• 〜んです (n desu): Signals that you are explaining your situation, not just stating a fact. のどが痛いんです doesn't just mean "my throat hurts"—it frames the statement as context the listener needs to understand. You'll hear it constantly when patients describe symptoms or when someone is justifying their actions.
• 〜てみましょう (te mimashō): "Let's try doing ~". Attach みましょう to the て-form to suggest trying something together. 体温を測ってみましょう — "Let's try taking your temperature." The みる element softens the suggestion, making it sound less like a command.
• 〜ようです (yō desu): "It seems ~" or "It appears ~". Based on something the speaker has directly observed. 風邪のようですね — "Looks like a cold." The doctor says this after examining Tanaka, not as a guess but as a conclusion from evidence.
• 〜ないでください (naide kudasai): A polite negative request — "please don't ~". 心配しないでください — "Please don't worry." Contrast with 〜てください (please do ~); just swap the て-form for the ない-form before ください.
• 〜てもいいですか (te mo ii desu ka): Asks for permission politely — "May I ~?" また来てもいいですか — "Is it okay if I come again?" The て-form of the verb + もいいですか covers a wide range of everyday requests.
• 〜なければ (nakereba): The negative conditional — "if not ~" or "unless ~". 良くなっていなければ — "If you haven't recovered." Often followed by a suggestion: 〜なければ、また診察しましょう — "If you're not better, let's take another look."

Cultural Notes

For non-emergency illnesses—colds, fevers, minor injuries—most people in Japan head to a neighborhood clinic (クリニック or 診療所) rather than a hospital. Clinics generally prefer bookings (予約) in advance, though smaller ones sometimes take walk-ins. Japan's universal health insurance system (健康保険) means patients usually cover just 30% of the cost. Bring your health insurance card (保険証) every visit. Forget it once and you may be billed the full amount on the spot, then spend time claiming reimbursement later.

Medical settings in Japan call for careful, formal language from both sides. Doctors speak precisely; patients respond with respect. The farewell phrase お大事に (o-daiji ni)—roughly "take good care of yourself"—is the standard send-off from doctors, nurses, and pharmacists alike. A small bow entering and leaving the examination room, and a thank-you to reception staff on the way out, are the kind of small gestures that signal you know the unspoken rules.

Related Articles

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• Renting an Apartment (Conversation N4)
• Job Interview (Conversation N4)
• At the Post Office (Conversation N4)
• At the Bank (Conversation N4)
• At the Hospital: N5 Conversation Practice (Conversation N5)

Practice

After reading through the dialogue once, try these drills:

• Role-play with a study partner—one person as 田中, the other as 山田先生. Switch after one run-through so you get practice on both sides.
• Substitution drill 1 — Symptoms: Swap out 熱があって、のどが痛い for other complaints: せきが出る (seki ga deru — I have a cough), はなが出る (hana ga deru — runny nose), or おなかが痛い (onaka ga itai — stomach ache).
• Substitution drill 2 — Medicine instructions: Replace 1日3回、食後に with variations like 1日2回、食前に (ichinichi ni-kai, shokuzen ni — twice a day, before meals) or 1日1回、寝る前に (ichinichi ikkai, neru mae ni — once a day, before bed).
• Substitution drill 3 — Diagnosis: Try swapping 風邪のようですね for インフルエンザのようです (influenza no yō desu) or アレルギーのようです (arerugī no yō desu) to rehearse different scenarios.
• Variation challenge: Write a new dialogue where the patient has a stomach ache (おなかが痛い) and nausea (気持ち悪い). Which lines from this dialogue carry over unchanged? Which grammar patterns stay the same but need new vocabulary?