When you talk about your health in French, you may need to go beyond describing individual symptoms. You might need to say that you have an illness, mention a condition diagnosed in the past, or distinguish an ongoing health problem from a temporary one.
French uses several patterns for this. The verb you choose depends partly on whether you are talking about having a condition, becoming ill, or receiving a diagnosis.
Common illnesses
The following are common words for illness in French:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| un rhume | a cold |
| la grippe | flu |
| une gastro-entérite | gastroenteritis, a stomach bug |
| une angine | a throat infection |
| une bronchite | bronchitis |
| une infection | an infection |
| une infection urinaire | a urinary tract infection |
| une otite | an ear infection |
| une pneumonie | pneumonia |
With many illnesses, you can simply use avoir followed by the condition:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| J'ai un rhume. | I have a cold. |
| J'ai la grippe. | I have the flu. |
| J'ai une bronchite. | I have bronchitis. |
| J'ai une infection urinaire. | I have a urinary tract infection. |
Talk about ongoing health conditions
These terms related to chronic conditions may appear in medical conversations, questionnaires, and health records:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| l'asthme | asthma |
| le diabète | diabetes |
| l'hypertension | high blood pressure |
| l'épilepsie | epilepsy |
| l'arthrite | arthritis |
| une maladie cardiaque | heart disease |
| une maladie chronique | a chronic illness |
| une maladie auto-immune | an autoimmune disease |
The verb avoir is also common when you tell someone that you have one of these conditions:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| J'ai de l'asthme. | I have asthma. |
| J'ai du diabète. | I have diabetes. |
| J'ai de l'hypertension. | I have high blood pressure. |
| J'ai une maladie chronique. | I have a chronic illness. |
Say that you are ill
You can describe an illness without specifying a particular condition.
Être malade describes your state, while tomber malade focuses on becoming ill:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Je suis malade. | I'm ill. |
| Je suis tombé malade lundi. | I became ill on Monday. |
| Elle est souvent malade. | She's often ill. |
Malade does not tell the listener which illness you have. If the specific condition matters, you can add it separately.
You may also encounter une maladie, the noun meaning an illness or disease:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| une maladie | an illness, a disease |
| une maladie chronique | a chronic illness |
| une maladie infectieuse | an infectious disease |
| une maladie rare | a rare disease |
Je suis malade means “I'm ill,” while J'ai une maladie chronique means “I have a chronic illness.”
Talk about a diagnosis
When a healthcare professional identifies a condition, French often uses diagnostiquer or expressions built around un diagnostic:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| On m'a diagnostiqué un diabète. | I was diagnosed with diabetes. |
| On m'a diagnostiqué un asthme. | I was diagnosed with asthma. |
| Le médecin a diagnostiqué une infection. | The doctor diagnosed an infection. |
| J'ai reçu un diagnostic l'année dernière. | I received a diagnosis last year. |
If you do not know the exact diagnosis, you can say so directly:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Je ne connais pas le diagnostic exact. | I don't know the exact diagnosis. |
| Je ne sais pas quelle maladie j'ai. | I don't know what illness I have. |
| Le médecin fait encore des examens. | The doctor is still doing tests. |
Acute and chronic conditions
You may encounter aigu and chronique when healthcare professionals describe how a condition or a pain develops over time. These words do not simply mean “serious” and “not serious”:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| aigu / aiguë | acute |
| chronique | chronic |
| une maladie aiguë | an acute illness |
| une maladie chronique | a chronic illness |
| une douleur aiguë | acute pain |
| une douleur chronique | chronic pain |
In medical language, aigu describes something that develops over a relatively short period. Chronique describes something that persists or recurs over a longer period.
Understand questions about your health
Medical forms and healthcare professionals may ask about illnesses and conditions using slightly different sentence patterns. Recognizing the key terms can help you understand what information is being requested:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Avez-vous des problèmes de santé ? | Do you have any health problems? |
| Avez-vous une maladie chronique ? | Do you have a chronic illness? |
| Avez-vous du diabète ? | Do you have diabetes? |
| Avez-vous déjà eu une pneumonie ? | Have you ever had pneumonia? |
| Avez-vous déjà été hospitalisé ? | Have you ever been hospitalized? |
| Quels sont vos antécédents médicaux ? | What is your medical history? |
A question about les antécédents médicaux is broader than a question about one current illness. It asks about relevant health problems and medical events from your past.
From learning to practice
Say J'ai la grippe when you know the illness, and J'ai de l'asthme when you live with a condition. Say Je suis malade when you do not know what it is.