ENGLISH FLUENCY SECRETS | DON'T Just SAY 'I'm Sick'! 🤮 | Learn How Natives Express Feeling Unwell 😷

Hi, this is Harry and welcome back to Advanced  English Lessons with Harry, where I try to help  

you to get a much better understanding of the  English language. I help you with vocabulary,  

all aspects to do with your grammar.  If you're preparing for a proficiency  

exam or that all-important job interview  preparation, you've come to the right place.

We're here to help you. And in  the advanced English lesson today,  

we're going to look at different ways to  say, I am sick. I've actually been sick  

for the last ten days. I've got a really bad  virus that don't know what it was, but I'm  

just about getting over it. But it was really  bad. I had to cancel lots of lots of lessons.

So while I was in my sick bed, I was  thinking about how many different ways  

can I tell you guys how to say I am  sick. So here I put them together  

in this particular lesson and I hope you  enjoy them and you get to practice them.

Okay, So it's an advanced  English lesson and it's 16,  

16 ways in which you can say,  I feel sick or I feel ill.

Okay. Now, some of them are formal.  Some of them are less formal. Some  

of them are almost slang. Some of  them can be a little bit funny. Or  

the situation which gives rise to using the  expressions can be a little bit funny. Okay,  

so the first one is I feel crap. And here  we got to put that intonation into it.

I feel crap. I don't know what it is. I  just woke up this morning feeling crap. I  

can't do anything. I could hardly  get myself out of the bed. Now,  

some people could be a little bit more  demonstrative and say, I feel shit because  

crap and shit really are the same word.  Crap is just a little less rude than shit.

Not so much, but it's a little less  rude. So if you hear crap or shit,  

really it means the same thing. But you're  not, you know, not really, really good.

Number two, I don't feel so good. So you can't  actually put your finger on exactly how you  

feel. Well, what's wrong? Have you got a pain in  your stomach? I've got a headache. I don't know.  

I just. I don't feel so good. I think I'll just  stay in bed for another couple of hours. Perhaps,  

I just need another bit of a rest and I'll be  fine after a little bit of light breakfast.  

So it's just a way for somebody expressing  that they don't know particularly what it  

is. there's no particular sickness with  a name. It's just that they don't feel  

so good. I don't feel so good. Okay,  Now they could just say I don't feel  

good. That's one way of saying it. I don't  feel so good in this situation we're using.

So to put a little bit more emphasis, to underline  the fact I don't feel so good, I really think

I'm coming down with something,  but I just don't feel so good.

Number three, I'm out of sorts. Now, out of  sorts could mean lots and lots of things. Again,  

it could be a tummy upset, a  tummy bug, it could be some

headaches or

could be generally just feeling  unwell. So we say is a little bit  

out of sorts. He has been out of sorts  for a few days. So it could be a way of  

describing young kids when they're not  really able to verbalise how they feel.

But you know, when you look at them  and you know how they're reacting,  

either not sleeping so well or the  waking up in the middle of the night  

or the vomiting a little bit, so they're  just a little bit out of sorts. So you  

take them along to the doctor just to be  on the safe side and just to check it out.

So to be out of sorts. Now, we can also be  out of sorts if we're perhaps a little bit  

stressed mentally or otherwise, or  under a bit of pressure at home,  

under a bit of pressure at school for exams,  under a bit of pressure at work for lots of  

reasons. So we're a little bit out of  sorts but would be okay in a few days.

Generally, some fresh air,  

some rest or a long weekend might resolve  all those problems. To be out of sorts.

Number four, I don't feel the best. Again,  a little bit like I don't feel so good. I  

don't feel the best. Well, the best is 100%.  So if you don't feel the best of your feeling  

less than 100%, then of course you're not  the way you'd like to be. So I don't feel  

the best. So if you get an invitation  from your friends for a coffee morning,  

join the book reading club, a walk  in the hills, whatever it might be.

Look, I think I'll give it a  miss, I don't feel the best.  

And I'll just be... I'll be like a wet  blanket. Yeah. I won't be so enjoyable,  

I won't be so much fun to be around. I'll  catch up with you again. I don't feel the best.

Very

formal. Just say I'm unwell. So if somebody  asks you, Why are you not at work today?  

Why are you not at school today? Why are  you not going to university today? Well,  

I'm unwell. Now, that might just stop people  from asking any of the questions because  

"unwell" can cover a multitude of sins. So  I'm unwell. I'm going to go to the doctor.

I'm unwell. I'll take the day off.  If I don't feel any better tomorrow,  

then I'll go to the doctor so you  can give explanations or further  

information or more detail, depending  on the relationship between you and the  

boss if he needs more information. You and the  headmistress or the headmaster at the school,

perhaps the mother or the father has to ring  

up and just say that Johnny won't be  at school today because he's unwell.

Perhaps that's sufficient. You know, if  he's gone to the doctor or the dentist,  

you might add that. But if he's feeling  unwell and not quite sure yet what it is,  

well then all you need to say is Johnny is unwell  

today. We'll see how he is tomorrow. I  might take him to the doctor then. Okay.

One of the really good expressions,  very old fashioned British English  

expression is I feel under the weather  today, under the weather. So, you

maybe the weather's, the

sun is shining or the skies are clear, but  you're not feeling like that. So you feel  

under the weather. So you feel a little  bit ill. I can't put my finger on it,  

but I just feel under the weather, you know,  

the way that the temperature has been changing  up and down some days, +40 other days +8.

And, you know, that's the problem with  the air pressure. It seems to affect me  

more than it affects anybody else. I don't  know if it's the same for you, but really,  

I feel under the weather. So  I'm going to stay at home,  

I'm going to relax. I'm going to put my  feet up. I'm not going to do too much.

And even when I look at that screen on  the computer, it gives me a headache. So,  

yeah, just generally feeling under the weather.

Again, we mentioned before, when we're  when we say, I'm not feeling the best,  

it's all about percentages. So you can  literally say I'm not 100%. I haven't  

been for a couple of weeks. I've  just felt a bit low, low on energy,  

or maybe I need some vitamin C or I tell you  what I need. I need a really good holiday.

I need a big dose of sunshine. No, I can't  wait for spring and that early sunrise to  

hit me because I'm really, really feel like I  need it. So at the moment I'm just not 100%.  

I'm going to go into the office. Of course,  I'm not sick enough to stay at home,  

but I'm definitely not 100%. So  I want to take it easy. I leave

The office on time. I won't do any.

Overtime, anything like that, because,  yeah, I'm just not really 100%.

Now, if you really feel bad and you want  a nice way of describing it. You can see  

I feel ghastly again, very British English  and very well pronounced. I feel ghastly. Now  

it's spelt g-h-a-s-t-ly. And make sure  you get the pronunciation correct. But  

I feel ghastly means Oh, it must have been  something I ate. So if you've got a bit of

stomach cramps, so perhaps you've got a little  bit of food poisoning, something like that.

So when you wake up in the morning, oh, you know  it that you've got a problem. You're not vomiting  

or anything yet, but you think you might. So you  ring up the office or you send a text message,  

say, look, I'm not going to come in today.  I feel ghastly. I was out last night. I  

think it must have been something that I ate.

Some fish or meat that hasn't agreed with me  is the way we express it. But I really feel  

ghastly. And some people can take  a look at you. Your partner says,  

My goodness, you look ghastly. How  do you feel your whites or you are  

clammy or your skin is wet. So yeah,  I think you need to get back into bed.

I'll bring you a hot cup of something. Yeah.  Okay. So to feel ghastly or to look ghastly,  

not ghostly. Remember ghostly is something  different entirely. It has to do with being white.  

But I feel or I look ghastly. Look at the spelling  of it and get the pronunciation. I feel ghastly.

Now the next one is really descriptive and quite  amusing. So if you wake up in the morning and  

you've got aches and pains and every part  of your body from your head to your toes,  

your arms, your shoulders, your legs, your back,  whatever it is, perhaps it's the beginning of some  

flu or some other virus like that. We often  use the expression, I feel like a bus hit me.

I feel as if I have been hit  by a bus exactly the same.

Like I've been hit by a bus.

So you can imagine, you know, one of  those cartoons that we used to watch many,  

many years ago with the cat or the the mouse  and the Sylvester. The cat gets hit by the  

bus and is really in a bad way. So that's  exactly how you or I might feel when we  

wake up that morning and we try to get our head  off the pillow, we try to get out of the bed.

And I don't know what happened, but every  part of my body aches. I feel as if a boss  

hit me or I feel as if I have been hit  by a bang. Just like Sylvester the Cat or

Tom and Jerry, the other cartoon, which always  involved somebody getting hit by something.

Number ten. I feel as if I'm coming down with  something again. Here is a situation where you  

can't be so explicit because you just really  don't know what it is. But you've got those  

signs and you've had that before, so  you've got a little bit of a headache,  

a runny nose, a little bit of a cough.  General feeling of muzziness around your  

eyes where you are, perhaps the nasal passages  or the sinuses are blocked. So, yeah, I feel  

I'm coming down with something. I think it's one  of those summer flus, one of those winter bugs,  

whatever it might be. But I feel as if  I'm coming down with something, expresses  

exactly how you feel at that moment because  you're not able to describe it any other way.

And then when you go to the doctor, he can  confirm. Yeah, it's just the the flu. Stay  

at home, stay warm, lots of drinks. And  if you feel bad or worse in a few days,  

give me a call and we can see what  we can do. Okay. So at the moment,  

it's just coming down with something, some  flu, winter flu, whatever it might be.

Okay.

Now we can also talk about if we have a bug  stomach bug in particular. So either we've  

got diarrhoea or vomiting. I said, I must have  picked something up in the swimming pool or I  

picked something up from the kids or  I picked something up on the holiday  

in the airplane. These are the types of places  where we are likely to get some sort of a bug.

And when we do feel bad and we do feel  sick and we do feel ill, these are the  

sort of places that we mention because it's  likely that if we visit one of them recently,  

then that's what's happened. So flying home on the  holiday, we picked something up in the airport or,

we picked something up in the swimming pool.

Either the water wasn't so  clean and we swallowed some  

water or we swallowed some water in the shower

So, yeah, I picked up something or I

picked up something from the kids.  I picked something up at school,  

like pick something up on the holiday. So  it's not that you literally bent down and  

picked them up off the ground, but you  got it from somebody. They passed it  

on to you. And these are how these  books get around and spread around.

So I don't feel so well, perhaps  to take a couple of days,  

but I must have picked something up on  the holiday in the airport, on the plane.

Now the next one is a funny one. It's  an expression that they use in British  

English all the time. And I'll explain it to  you that the expression is to pull a sickie,  

to pull a sickie. And usually when people  are sick, they have to or they used to  

have to write a note to their boss. Now  they do it by email, of course, or text.

But whatever way they they do it or what's up?  But it used to be that you had to write a note,  

a sick note to your boss to see that  you weren't feeling well for one or  

two days and the doctors told you to stay  at home. So when somebody pulls a sickie,  

what we mean is that they take a  sick day without really being sick.

Yep. Or he always pulled sickies at this time  of the year because he likes to go away for the  

weekends. You just watch next month or the week  after that. He'll be sick on a Friday or he'll  

be sick on a Monday because he goes away for  the weekends. So when somebody pulls a sickie,  

it's when they want to take a day off  work, but they're not really sick at all.

He's a great one for picking... for  pulling sickies. Yet everybody falls  

for it. Nobody. Nobody checks it. Yeah. Ah,  he works hard. But you know what he's like  

in the summer. He likes his time off. So  he's a terrible man for pulling sickies.  

So to publicity is when you take a  day off without really being sick.

Now getting back to the reality of illnesses,  when somebody has a virus and often when we  

have a virus, it's called a virus without really  knowing what it is. So it's some sort of virus. So

get that from the doctor who  tell you and you go, yeah,  

it's some sort of virus that a lot of people  have been in here in the last couple of weeks.

Well, if the doctor, the doctors don't know  what it's called, how are we supposed to know  

what they are called? But it's a great way  for covering everything yet. A catch all  

situation. So if you're feeling unwell, you've  got that runny nose, you've got those headaches,  

you've got a bit of vomiting. Yeah. I got  to something like or it's some sort of virus

that they've picked up.

Yeah. Just stay in bed, stay warm, hot drinks.  You should be okay in a couple of days. And  

generally we are. So this is what happens with  viruses. They come and they go. Yeah. And kids,  

particularly kids in creches are devils for  getting these little viruses. They go around,  

they touch each other, they pick up each  other's toys, they put them in the mouths.

And if one child is sick  and known to everybody else,  

then of course you bring him or her  home. And guess what? You get the  

virus as well. So it's some sort of a  virus not knowing exactly what it is.

Now there are situations when people are sick for  

particular reasons. One of them when  somebody is expecting a baby, yes or

Then you feel

sick in the mornings or what we call morning  sickness. So if you say I have morning sickness,  

I'm nauseous, then it means that you're either  vomiting or you feel like vomiting quite a lot,  

particularly in the early months of pregnancy.

So people who suffer really badly from that,  then it's very difficult for them to get into  

work and all they want to do is rest or  to be as close to the bathroom as they  

possibly can. Okay. So to be nauseous and just  be careful with the pronunciation of that word,  

you see it appearing on the screen.  Nauseous, nauseous, nauseous.

I feel nauseous. I feel as if I'm going  to be sick. Are you nauseous? Yes,  

I feel nauseous. Okay. So morning sickness  is sometimes associated with nauseous or  

nauseous is associated with morning sickness. Of  course, you can be nauseous for other reasons.  

You could have eaten something that didn't  agree with you and you would be nauseous.  

You could have had one or two drinks too  many, and you'll certainly be nauseous.

But those unfortunate

women who suffer from morning sickness  when they are pregnant. And yes,  

then it is nauseous. They feel nauseous.

Now another way, which is very, very forced  on us because we just had too much to drink,  

is when we have a hangover. So we know exactly  why we are feeling sick or nauseous. We know  

exactly why we've got that terrible  headache in the morning when we try  

to lift our head off the pillow. We just  can't get it more than a few centimetres.

And we can say, I've got a raging  hangover. A raging hangover. Well,  

of course you have. You celebrated late  into the night and you insisted on that  

last beer or that last bottle of wine. And of  course, it's always the last drink that gets  

you. Yes. So the next day, what else and  how else are you going to feel other than

really sick?

So you feel that you've got a raging hangover  and luckily it's a Saturday or luckily it's  

a Sunday and you should be okay. 24 hours  later, when you have to go to work. So if  

you're feeling unwell because of a certain  amount of alcohol that you've consumed,  

then you can use the expression I  have a raging hangover and raging

like a bull running around  and your head is thumping.

Yeah, your stomach is churning. You really, really  don't feel so good. So what you need is a dark  

room and to lie down and let it pass is to have  a raging hangover. And then finally, something  

associated with nosiness and also associated  with hangovers as I was throwing up my guts all  

night. Yeah. So this is a real expressive way of  saying that I don't feel well or I'm feeling sick.

I have was throwing my guts up all night. So you can  

imagine the picture, the scene. I'm sure we've all  been there before for whatever reason it happens  

to be. So I was throwing up my guts all night.  So you spent a lot of the time in the bathroom

near the toilet. And as  they like to say in Ireland,  

I spent all night talking to God  in the Great White Telephone.

So in other words, I was holding on to the toilet  and I was being sick quite frequently and quite  

often. So not quite a nice picture. Very sad to be  in that situation. But you know, it's part of life  

and we have to go through it. Well, we don't have  to, but we usually do go through those things.

Okay, so there's your 16 ways in which you can say  I am sick or I am in. I just run through them one  

more time. I feel crap. I don't feel so good. I'm  out of sorts. I don't feel the best. I am unwell.

I feel under the weather today. I'm not 100%.  I feel ghastly. I feel as if a bus hit me.

I have or I'm coming down with something.

I picked up something in the airport or wherever.

He pulled a sickie last week.  Another sick. He's not really  

sick at all. It's some sort of virus going around.

I have morning sickness. Nauseous.

I have a raging hangover. A raging hangover.  I was throwing my guts up all night. Okay,

so 16 ways. Try to practice them. Hopefully, you  don't experience the symptoms, but try to practice  

them, try to talk about situations when you can  use them. If you still don't understand them,  

come back to me. I'll give you some  further explanations. Okay. So this  

is Harry thanking you for watching and for  listening. Join me again for the next lesson.