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HomeHealth › At the pharmacy

How to buy medicine at a Chinese pharmacyFree in the app

Head pounding, throat on fire, and a wall of medicine boxes you can't read. The green cross has what you need.

What you'll say

Tap play to hear it. Everything on this page runs in your browser — nothing is uploaded.

Heads-up: the voice you hear here is your browser’s built-in Mandarin — the app sounds considerably better. On iPhone it uses Apple’s enhanced and premium system voices, plays at real conversational speed, and has a slow mode for practising.

This device has no Chinese voice installed, so audio can’t play here. The app doesn’t have that problem — it uses the Mandarin voices built into iOS.

我头疼。
Wǒ tóuténg.
I have a headache.
Set your symptom before you walk in — or switch it at the counter.
我感冒了。
Wǒ gǎnmào le.
I have a cold.
有退烧药吗?
Yǒu tuìshāoyào ma?
Do you have fever medicine?
有…吗 (yǒu…ma) = 'do you have…?' Works for anything in any shop.
一天吃几次?
Yì tiān chī jǐ cì?
How many times a day do I take it?
Scan the box with the Scan tab for dosage details.
我对青霉素过敏。
Wǒ duì qīngméisù guòmǐn.
I'm allergic to penicillin.
我对…过敏 = 'I'm allergic to…'. Worth memorizing cold if it applies to you.

What they'll say back

This is the part nobody teaches. Real Mandarin comes back fast and blunt, so hear it at natural speed first.

Press play before you read. In the app, anything you miss comes back slower and then again later, until you catch it at full speed.

They say
有什么症状?
Yǒu shénme zhèngzhuàng?
What symptoms do you have?
You can answer
头疼,还有点发烧。
Tóuténg, hái yǒudiǎn fāshāo.
Headache, and a slight fever.
They say
一天三次,饭后吃。
Yì tiān sān cì, fàn hòu chī.
Three times a day, after meals.
You can answer
明白了,谢谢。
Míngbai le, xièxie.
Understood, thanks.

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