Describing Symptoms, Body Parts, Severity, and Duration

Hei! In this module, you’ll build the Norwegian you need to describe a health concern and understand the questions that follow. We’ll start with four pieces of information that make a symptom report useful: what you feel, where you feel it, how severe it is, and how long it has been happening.

The aim today is not to learn medical diagnoses. It is to recognize common symptom words and put them into short, natural Bokmål sentences you could use in an everyday conversation or at a clinic. Allow about 40 minutes, including time to listen and read aloud.

Start with a sentence you can use

A useful opening is Jeg føler meg ikke bra — “I don’t feel well.” It tells someone there is a problem, but not what the problem is. The next sentence can supply a symptom: Jeg har feber (“I have a fever”) or Jeg har vondt i magen (“My stomach hurts”).

Listen first for these complete phrases rather than trying to memorize individual words.

Notice that Norwegian does not use one sentence pattern for every symptom. Feber is something you have; svimmel (“dizzy”) and kvalm (“nauseous”) describe how you are. Pain in a particular place has another especially useful pattern: Jeg har vondt i ...

The following brief doctor–patient dialogue shows why that last pattern matters. The patient initially says only that something hurts; the doctor asks about the location.

Locate the problem: body parts and symptoms

To say where something hurts, use the body part in the form it commonly takes after i:

Jeg har vondt i + body part
Jeg har vondt i ryggen. — “My back hurts.”

The endings may look unfamiliar if you learned the words as rygg (“back”) or mage (“stomach”). Norwegian often uses the definite form here: ryggen (“the back”), magen (“the stomach”). You need not say “my” for each body part when the sentence already makes clear that you are describing yourself.

Read the compact word list below before using the forms in the table.

Here are common body parts in both their dictionary form and the form you will use in a pain sentence:

Some complaints are more naturally given as a symptom word or an adjective. Compare these everyday choices:

• Jeg har ...: Jeg har feber (“I have a fever”), Jeg har hodepine (“I have a headache”), Jeg har hoste (“I have a cough”), Jeg har utslett (“I have a rash”).
• Jeg er ...: Jeg er kvalm (“I feel nauseous”), Jeg er svimmel (“I feel dizzy”), Jeg er sliten (“I’m tired or exhausted”).
• Jeg ...: Jeg hoster (“I’m coughing”). This is another natural way to describe a cough.

Both Jeg har hodepine and Jeg har vondt i hodet express a headache. You do not need to choose a “more medical” version: use whichever comes to mind clearly. Likewise, Jeg har vondt i brystet communicates a location, not a diagnosis.

Add severity and duration

A listener may need to know whether the problem is slight or strong, and whether it began recently or has continued. You can add those details without building a long sentence.

For severity, place an intensifier before vondt:

Vondt is the versatile everyday word for “sore” or “hurting.” Smerter means “pains” and is useful when describing more substantial pain. You can also say Jeg har høy feber (“I have a high fever”). Describe what you are experiencing rather than trying to infer its cause.

For duration, two short constructions cover many situations:

• Jeg har hatt feber i to dager. — I’ve had a fever for two days.
• Jeg har vært svimmel siden i går. — I’ve been dizzy since yesterday.

Use i with a length of time (i to dager, i en uke). Use siden with a starting point (siden i går, siden mandag). Har hatt and har vært are helpful when the symptom began earlier and is still relevant now.

You can combine location and duration:

Jeg har hatt vondt i magen i to dager.
“I’ve had a stomachache for two days.”

There are two instances of i here, doing different jobs: the first introduces where it hurts (i magen); the second introduces how long (i to dager). If you cannot yet produce the whole sentence smoothly, two short sentences are equally clear: Jeg har vondt i magen. Det begynte i går. (“My stomach hurts. It started yesterday.”)

When listening, these questions signal the information someone wants:

• Hvor gjør det vondt? — Where does it hurt?
• Hvor lenge har du hatt det? — How long have you had it?
• Når begynte det? — When did it start?
• Har du feber? — Do you have a fever?

Hear the whole report

Consider this short exchange:

Hvor gjør det vondt?
Jeg har vondt i halsen, og jeg hoster.

Hvor lenge har du hatt det?
Siden i går. Jeg har også litt feber.

The first answer gives a location and another symptom. The second gives a starting point and adds a fever. It is brief, but the listener now has much more to work with than “I feel bad.”

A second report uses the same building blocks differently:

Jeg er svimmel og kvalm. Det begynte i morges.
“I’m dizzy and nauseous. It started this morning.”

Here there is no painful body part to name, so Jeg har vondt i ... would be the wrong template. This is the central listening distinction for today: recognize whether a speaker is naming something they have, describing how they are, or locating pain.

If you encounter severe or sudden symptoms such as chest pain or difficulty breathing, vocabulary practice is no substitute for prompt professional help.

Conclusion

You can now build a useful symptom report from a small set of patterns: Jeg har feber, Jeg er svimmel, and Jeg har vondt i ryggen. Add litt or veldig for severity, then i to dager or siden i går for duration. Short, accurate sentences are enough to communicate the essentials.

Next, you’ll use this vocabulary in a telephone exchange to book or change an appointment.