At the Doctor's: Grammar and Phonics (AQA GCSE Spanish): Revision Note

To understand the topic of 'at the doctor's', you need to be able to understand and use the imperative correctly, use the verb doler to say what hurts, and use the impersonal verb hay que. Let's look at these grammar points in more detail.

Imperative

• The imperative is used to give an instruction or an order - it would be used to give medical advice if you were at a doctor’s appointment

• It is only used in the present tense

• Like in English, we use the verb without the pronoun (e.g. ‘Drink!’ rather than ‘You drink!’)

• Most verbs are regular

• For regular verbs, take the -s off the present tense tú form:

• Some key verbs have irregular imperative forms:

Higher tier only

• To address more than one person, replace the ‘r’ in the infinitive form of the verb with ‘d’:

The verb doler

• The verb doler is used to say that something hurts or is painful

• It behaves in the same way as gustar and matches the subject

• This means that it agrees with the thing causing the pain, not the person having the pain

• For singular nouns, use me duele + definite article + noun

  • me duele la cabeza - my head hurts

• For plural nouns, use me duelen + definite article + noun

  • me duelen los ojos - my eyes hurt

Impersonal verbs: hay que

• Hay que means ‘you must’ or ‘it is necessary to’

• It is called an impersonal verb as it is only used with the pronoun ‘it’, never ‘I’, ‘you’ etc.

• It can be used to give advice or instructions

• Use an infinitive after hay que:

  • hay que ir al hospital - you must go to the hospital

  • hay que dormir bien - you must sleep well

At the doctor's: phonics

• Spanish has two ‘r’ sounds - single [r] and double [rr]

  • [rr] is always pronounced as a rolled sound

    correr

  • [r] is a rolled sound at the beginning of a word

    roto

  • [r] is a rolled sound after l and n

    alrededor

    sonreír

  • At the end of a word, [r] is a softer sound

    descansar