The Portuguese medical vocabulary that helps most fits on one index card: dói-me (my ... hurts), tenho febre (I have a fever), sou alérgico a (I'm allergic to), queria marcar uma consulta (I'd like to book an appointment), plus two numbers, 112 for emergencies and SNS 24 for health advice. Add a handful of pharmacy words like receita (prescription) and comprimido (pill), and you can get through most routine visits in European Portuguese. You know the scene: the waiting room at the centro de saúde (health center), a screen calling ticket numbers, and a receptionist asking for your número de utente (SNS user number) before you've found a chair. Many doctors and pharmacists speak some English, but leading with Portuguese tends to make things smoother, and the words matter most when you're tired, worried or running a fever. Below, the words come in the order you'll need them, from the phone call to the pharmacy counter, all in pt-PT.
Which number do you call: 112 or SNS 24?
Call 112 when someone's life is at risk, and call SNS 24 for everything else, including the question of whether you need the urgência (ER) at all. 112 is Portugal's national emergency number, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from mainland Portugal and the islands (SNS 24).
The SNS 24 line is 808 24 24 24 (Guia da Saúde). Its clinical service runs 24 hours a day, every day, while administrative help runs from 8am to 10pm (SNS, Linhas de Atendimento Gerais).
Words for the call:
- Preciso de uma ambulância (I need an ambulance)
- A minha morada é... (My address is...), moh-RAH-duh
- Está a respirar com dificuldade (He or she is having trouble breathing)
- O meu filho tem febre alta (My son has a high fever)
- Fala inglês? (Do you speak English?)
Practice saying your own address out loud now. A street name in Alfama or a parish in the Azores is much harder to spell over the phone when your heart is racing.
How do you book a doctor's appointment in Portuguese?
Booking starts with one polite phrase, Queria marcar uma consulta, said at the reception of the centro de saúde, followed by a few short phrases for the appointment time, your family doctor and whether it's your first visit. Once you're in the consulting room, expect formal address on both sides, and keep two phrases ready for asking the doctor to slow down or say it again.
At the centro de saúde
Start with Queria marcar uma consulta (I'd like to book an appointment), kee-REE-uh mur-KAR OO-muh kohn-SOOL-tuh. Queria is the same polite form that gets you a coffee, so you've probably used it already. Then:
- Tenho uma consulta marcada para as dez (I have an appointment at ten)
- Com o meu médico de família (With my family doctor)
- É a primeira vez (It's my first time)
- Há alguma vaga hoje? (Is there an opening today?)
In the consulting room
You'll hear senhor doutor and senhora doutora for the doctor, and you'll usually be addressed formally too, with o senhor, a senhora or plain third-person verbs. Keep two lifesavers ready: Pode falar mais devagar, por favor? (Could you speak more slowly, please?) and Pode repetir? (Could you repeat that?).
Médica: Então, o que é que se passa? You: Dói-me a garganta há três dias. Médica: Tem febre? You: Ontem à noite, sim.
That's a full consultation opener: what hurts, for how long, and a yes to the follow-up.
What Portuguese medical vocabulary describes your symptoms?
The workhorse is dói-me (DOY-muh), literally it hurts me. With one body part, it's Dói-me a cabeça (My head hurts). With a plural, the verb changes: Doem-me as costas (My back hurts), because costas is plural in Portuguese. Notice the me sits after the verb, which is the European Portuguese habit in sentences like these.
Body parts you'll reach for:
- a cabeça (head)
- a garganta (throat)
- a barriga (belly)
- o peito (chest)
- os ouvidos (ears)
- as costas (back)
And the rest of the index card:
- Tenho febre / tosse / náuseas / tonturas (I have a fever / a cough / nausea / dizziness)
- Estou a tomar... (I'm taking...), using the pt-PT estar a + infinitive
- Sou alérgico or alérgica à penicilina (I'm allergic to penicillin)
- Há três dias (For three days) or Desde ontem (Since yesterday)
- Estou grávida (I'm pregnant)
Which health words trip up English speakers?
Four words cause most of the confusion: constipado, which means you have a cold rather than constipation; receita, which means both recipe and prescription; análises, which are lab tests; and penso rápido, the bandage strip for a small cut. Each one looks or sounds like something else to an English speaker, so it pays to know them before you reach the doctor or the pharmacy counter.
Does constipado mean constipated?
No. In European Portuguese, Estou constipado (kohnsh-tee-PAH-doo), or constipada, means I have a cold. If you mean the other thing, the phrase is prisão de ventre. Mixing these up will earn you a long, thoughtful look from the pharmacist.
Why does receita sound like a recipe?
Because it is one. Receita (reh-SAY-tuh) means both recipe and prescription, and context does the work. Pode receitar-me alguma coisa? means Could you prescribe me something?
What are análises?
Análises ao sangue are blood tests, and exames covers tests in general. If the doctor says Vamos fazer umas análises, you're getting a lab request, not a philosophy seminar.
What's a penso rápido?
A bandage strip for a small cut. Ask for pensos rápidos at the counter.
What do you say at a Portuguese pharmacy?
Most pharmacy Portuguese phrases start with Queria alguma coisa para... (I'd like something for...), then the symptom.
Asking for what you need
- Queria alguma coisa para a tosse (I'd like something for a cough)
- Precisa de receita? (Does it need a prescription?)
- Tem genérico? (Is there a generic?)
- comprimidos (pills), xarope (syrup), pomada (ointment), gotas (drops), pastilhas para a garganta (throat lozenges)
If your prescription came to your telemóvel (cell phone), have the message open before you reach the counter.
Understanding the instructions
- de oito em oito horas (every eight hours)
- duas vezes por dia (twice a day)
- em jejum (on an empty stomach)
- depois das refeições (after meals)
Farmacêutica: Bom dia, diga. You: Bom dia. Queria alguma coisa para as dores de cabeça. Farmacêutica: Está a tomar outros medicamentos? You: Não, nenhum. Farmacêutica: Então tome um comprimido de oito em oito horas, depois das refeições.
How do you find a pharmacy that's open at night?
Look for a lit green cross, and check the list on the door. Under Portuguese regulation, the green cross must be illuminated whenever the pharmacy is open and switched off when it's closed (INFARMED, Deliberação n.º 414/2007). Every pharmacy must also display its opening hours and which pharmacies in the municipality are on duty, the farmácias de turno (Decreto-Lei n.º 307/2007).
The phrase to know: Qual é a farmácia de serviço hoje? (Which is the duty pharmacy today?)
| Figure (Portugal, 2024) | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Pharmacies and mobile pharmaceutical posts | 3,123 | INE, Sept. 2025 |
| Pharmacists per 1,000 inhabitants | 1.6 | INE, Sept. 2025 |
| Average inhabitants per pharmacy | 3,656 | INFARMED, 2024 |
INFARMED also notes that coverage is better in the North and thinner in the Alentejo. In a small town, the duty pharmacy may be a drive away, so read the door list on a quiet afternoon rather than at 2am.
Which SNS visits still carry a user fee?
For SNS users in Portugal, there are no longer taxas moderadoras (user fees) for health center consultations, scheduled hospital consultations, prescribed exams, surgeries or hospital stays (Santander). Fees remain for hospital emergency visits that weren't referred and didn't end in admission.
The listed ER fees are €18.00 for a polyvalent hospital emergency, €16.00 for a medical-surgical emergency and €14.00 for a basic emergency unit, with a cap of €40 per episode including extra tests (Doutor Finanças; Montepio). These are national Portuguese rules and can change, so check the SNS before relying on them. Private clinics and medicines are priced separately.
Useful words here:
- a taxa moderadora (the user fee)
- isento or isenta (exempt)
- Fui encaminhado pelo SNS 24 (I was referred by SNS 24), which matters, since the fee applies to unreferred visits
How can you practice these words before you need them?
Write your own index card tonight: your allergies, the medicines you take, your address and your número de utente. Then say three sentences out loud, starting with Dói-me, Tenho and Estou a tomar. Saying them before you need them is what makes them come out when you're feverish.
This is the kind of practice Pois Pois was built for. Type a topic like booking an appointment at my centro de saúde in Funchal, and the course generates a lesson, dialogue or quiz about it, voiced by European speakers at real speed. Sandra, our AI tutor, explains in English, corrects in European Portuguese and marks your homework answer by answer. You can try it for 7 days with the card taken up front but not charged, and cancel in two clicks. Households can share the family plan at €25/month for up to four people, each with their own level, which helps when the kids need Dói-me a barriga too.
And at the pharmacy counter, one word gets you started: Queria.