At the pharmacy in Spanish
A pharmacy, medicine without a prescription in Spanish. 7 phrases that the conversation is made of: «Buenas tardes. ¿En qué puedo ayudarle?» — Good afternoon. How can I help you?; «Me duele mucho la garganta y tengo tos.» — I have a bad sore throat and a cough. Every line can be played right on the page. The conversation is predictable: few lines, and almost all of them repeat from one exchange to the next.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: a pharmacy, medicine without a prescription. The conversation is short and predictable — which is exactly what makes it good for a first try: few lines, and almost all of them repeat from one exchange to the next.
- Buenas tardes. ¿En qué puedo ayudarle?Good afternoon. How can I help you?
- Me duele mucho la garganta y tengo tos.I have a bad sore throat and a cough.
- ¿Tiene fiebre?Do you have a fever?
- Un poco, desde ayer. ¿Tiene algo sin receta?A little, since yesterday. Do you have anything without a prescription?
- Estas pastillas: una cada ocho horas, después de comer.These pills: one every eight hours, after meals.
- ¿Y si no mejoro?And if it doesn't get better?
- Entonces pida cita con su médico.Then make an appointment with your doctor.
Lines one by one
| Spanish | Reading | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| Buenas tardes. ¿En qué puedo ayudarle? | — | Good afternoon. How can I help you? |
| Me duele mucho la garganta y tengo tos. | — | I have a bad sore throat and a cough. |
| ¿Tiene fiebre? | — | Do you have a fever? |
| Un poco, desde ayer. ¿Tiene algo sin receta? | — | A little, since yesterday. Do you have anything without a prescription? |
| Estas pastillas: una cada ocho horas, después de comer. | — | These pills: one every eight hours, after meals. |
| ¿Y si no mejoro? | — | And if it doesn't get better? |
| Entonces pida cita con su médico. | — | Then make an appointment with your doctor. |
How to prepare for a conversation like this
Memorizing the lines is not enough: the other person will say their own thing, not what is written. What helps more is catching the key words by ear and keeping three rescue phrases ready: “I don't understand”, “repeat, please”, “slower”.
And one more thing phrasebooks do not mention: awkwardness gets in the way more than not knowing the words.
- Fear of making mistakes gets in the way of learning a language, and it gets in the way badly. It is one of the most reliably measured findings in the entire field.checked many timesTeimouri, Goetze & Plonsky, 2019, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 41(2) · 19,933 participants from 23 countries; correlation with results r = −0.36.
- That fear can be dealt with — the methods have been tested and they work.checked many timesXiong et al., 2024, Journal of Language and Social Psychology · 37 studies, anxiety reduced by −0.61. Of the seven conditions examined, only age turned out to matter.
Frequently asked
How do you start a conversation in Spanish in this situation?
“Buenas tardes. ¿En qué puedo ayudarle?” — Good afternoon. How can I help you?. The first line in such a conversation is almost always the same, and that is the one worth learning: the other person will carry it from there.
What if you did not understand the reply?
Say “I don't understand” and “repeat, please” — both are in the rescue set. Admitting your language is still shaky almost always makes the other person more patient.
Should you memorize the dialogue?
No. It is more useful to catch the key words by ear: the other person will say their own thing, and a memorized line will not always fit their reply.