You can describe symptoms that affect a particular part of the body or your general condition. In French, some are expressed with a noun, while others use an adjective or a short expression. Recognizing these common patterns helps you describe a health problem clearly.
For avoir mal à together with other signs, see Describing pain. For when symptoms started and how they change, see Describing your symptoms.
Common symptoms
Many common symptoms are expressed with avoir:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| avoir de la fièvre | to have a fever |
| avoir de la toux | to have a cough |
| avoir des frissons | to have chills |
| avoir des nausées | to feel nauseous |
| avoir le nez bouché | to have a blocked nose |
| avoir le nez qui coule | to have a runny nose |
| avoir la diarrhée | to have diarrhea |
| avoir des vertiges | to feel dizzy / have dizziness |
These expressions can be used directly to say what you are experiencing:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| J'ai de la fièvre. | I have a fever. |
| J'ai des frissons. | I have chills. |
| J'ai des nausées. | I feel nauseous. |
| J'ai le nez bouché. | I have a blocked nose. |
The noun is part of the expression. Learn avoir de la fièvre or avoir des nausées as a complete unit rather than learning fièvre or nausées in isolation.
A cough, a sneeze, and vomit
Some symptoms are commonly expressed with verbs rather than with avoir:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| tousser | to cough |
| éternuer | to sneeze |
| vomir | to vomit |
| saigner | to bleed |
These verbs describe what is happening:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Je tousse beaucoup. | I'm coughing a lot. |
| J'éternue souvent. | I'm sneezing often. |
| J'ai vomi ce matin. | I vomited this morning. |
| Je saigne du nez. | My nose is bleeding. |
The choice between a noun expression and a verb is part of normal French usage. For example, French commonly uses avoir de la fièvre for a fever but tousser for coughing.
Describe how you feel
When a symptom describes your general condition rather than one body part, these expressions appear often:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| être fatigué / fatiguée | to be tired |
| être faible | to feel weak |
| être malade | to be sick |
| se sentir mal | to feel unwell |
| avoir froid | to feel cold |
| avoir chaud | to feel hot |
These expressions fit short statements:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Je suis très fatiguée. | I'm very tired. |
| Je me sens mal depuis ce matin. | I've been feeling unwell since this morning. |
| J'ai froid, mais je n'ai pas de fièvre. | I feel cold, but I don't have a fever. |
Être malade describes being ill generally. Se sentir mal describes feeling unwell without identifying a particular illness.
Combine symptoms
Health problems often involve more than one symptom. After you know individual symptoms, you can combine them in a short description:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| J'ai de la fièvre et je tousse. | I have a fever and I'm coughing. |
| J'ai le nez bouché et j'éternue beaucoup. | I have a blocked nose and I'm sneezing a lot. |
| J'ai des nausées et je me sens faible. | I feel nauseous and weak. |
| J'ai de la fièvre et j'ai mal à la tête. | I have a fever and a headache. |
| Je tousse et j'ai mal à la gorge. | I'm coughing and I have a sore throat. |
Say that you do not have a symptom
When someone asks about one symptom, you often need to say that you do not have it:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Je n'ai pas de fièvre. | I don't have a fever. |
| Je n'ai pas de nausées. | I don't feel nauseous. |
| Je ne tousse pas. | I'm not coughing. |
| Je ne vomis pas. | I'm not vomiting. |
You can name one symptom and deny another in the same sentence:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| J'ai des frissons, mais je n'ai pas de fièvre. | I have chills, but I don't have a fever. |
| J'ai mal à la gorge, mais je ne tousse pas. | I have a sore throat, but I'm not coughing. |
Ask about symptoms
Short questions check whether another person has a particular symptom:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Vous avez de la fièvre ? | Do you have a fever? |
| Vous avez des nausées ? | Do you feel nauseous? |
| Vous avez des vertiges ? | Do you feel dizzy? |
| Vous toussez ? | Are you coughing? |
| Vous vous sentez faible ? | Do you feel weak? |
In everyday conversation, these questions can be answered directly:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Vous avez de la fièvre ? | Do you have a fever? |
| Oui, un peu. | Yes, a little. |
| Vous avez des nausées ? | Do you feel nauseous? |
| Non. | No. |
| Vous toussez ? | Are you coughing? |
| Oui, beaucoup. | Yes, a lot. |
From learning to practice
In France, many cold and pain remedies are sold at the pharmacy counter, not from open shelves in the aisle. The staff need to know how you feel before they can suggest a product, and that is a straightforward everyday conversation in French even when your answers stay brief.