🌏 中文版
You meet a colleague in the morning. They notice your voice sounds different and ask what is wrong. You want to explain that your throat hurts and you are struggling to speak, but the only word that comes to mind is cold. At lunch, you want to ask what they are eating and whether they brought it from home.
In both conversations, start by describing the situation, then add a question. For health, distinguish a cold, pain and difficulty producing your voice. For lunch, distinguish today's meal from usual habits.
Say whether you have a cold, a sore throat or trouble speaking
Cambridge's cold entry separates low temperature from the illness. I have a cold. describes the illness; I’m cold. describes feeling cold. They communicate different things.
| What you want to tell a colleague | A reference expression | Relationship to the source |
|---|---|---|
| 我感冒了。 | I have a cold. | Cambridge example |
| 我喉嚨痛。 | I have a sore throat. | Cambridge example |
| 我的喉嚨會痛。 | My throat hurts. | Adapted from Cambridge's My head hurts. |
| 我感冒了，覺得自己快失聲了。 | I have a cold and I think I’m losing my voice. | Cambridge example |
| 我失聲了。 | I’ve lost my voice. | b-cafe example |
| 我幾乎講不出話。 | I can barely speak. | b-cafe example |
I have a sore throat. and My throat hurts. can both describe throat pain. The first presents a symptom; the second identifies where you feel pain. Cambridge's throat entry includes the first sentence, while hurt gives My head hurts. Replace head with throat to practise the same structure.
A sore throat does not itself mean you have lost your voice. I’m losing my voice describes becoming unable to speak; Cambridge's voice entry uses it in an example about having a cold. I’ve lost my voice describes an existing loss of voice. If you can still speak with difficulty, I can barely speak. conveys that. b-cafe's lesson puts these expressions in its section about losing your voice.
Choose the sentence that matches what you mean. You do not need to combine every condition into one answer.
Lunch talk: start with today, then ask about habits
When a colleague takes out a lunchbox, begin with today's meal. The BBC Real Easy English lunch conversation moves from what the speakers have today to their usual choices.
| What you want to ask or say | A reference expression | Relationship to the source |
|---|---|---|
| 你今天午餐吃什麼？ | What have you got for lunch today? | BBC example |
| 你從家裡帶來的？ | You brought it from home? | ELLLO example |
| 你平常午餐吃什麼？ | What do you usually have for lunch? | BBC example |
| 我有時會帶剩菜來吃。 | Sometimes I have leftovers that I bring in. | BBC example |
Today focuses on this particular meal; usually asks about habits. After someone says they brought rice and vegetables today, use the usually question to ask about their regular choices, such as buying lunch or bringing a lunchbox.
In You brought it from home?, it refers to the lunch already mentioned. In the ELLLO conversation, one speaker first mentions a chicken bento, and the other asks this question. When adapting it to colleagues, establish which meal you are discussing first.
The question checks where the food came from, without asking who cooked it. Food prepared by a family member, or bought and taken home before being brought to work, could also come from home. Leftovers are food remaining from an earlier meal to eat later. The word does not require the food to be yesterday's home-cooked dinner.
Can I say it another way?
| Expression | What it means | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| I’m cold. | 我覺得冷。 | A temperature feeling, rather than having the illness |
| I have a sore throat. | 我喉嚨痛。 | Throat pain, without saying you have lost your voice |
| I’ve lost my voice. | 我失聲了。 | The difficulty producing your voice, beyond simply mentioning pain |
| You brought it from home? | 你從家裡帶來的？ | Where the food came from, without identifying the cook |
To emphasise throat pain, add really to My throat hurts. This strengthens the description of pain without saying you have lost your voice. The b-cafe lesson also gives this example.
Change the details and say it again
Read the prompt, speak, then reveal the reference answer. These exercises change details or form within the structures above.
Change「我的喉嚨會痛」to「我的頭會痛」。
My head hurts. This is also Cambridge's original example.
Turn「我喉嚨痛」into a question to a colleague:「你喉嚨痛嗎？」
Do you have a sore throat? Change the statement to a question and use you as the subject.
Change the question about today's lunch to a question about breakfast.
What have you got for breakfast today? Replace lunch with breakfast. It still asks about today's particular meal.
Two short conversations
These are original practice examples. The colleague's responses are fictional; the conversations have not been copied from a source transcript.
In the morning, a colleague notices your voice sounds different.
- Colleague: What’s wrong?（怎麼了？）
- You: I have a sore throat.（我喉嚨痛。）
- Colleague: Is it a cold?（是感冒嗎？）
- You: I have a cold and I think I’m losing my voice.（我感冒了，覺得自己快失聲了。）
At lunchtime, you sit down to eat.
- You: What have you got for lunch today?（你今天午餐吃什麼？）
- Colleague: Rice and vegetables.（飯和青菜。）
- You: You brought it from home?（你從家裡帶來的？）
- Colleague: Yes.（對。）
- You: What do you usually have for lunch?（你平常午餐吃什麼？）
- Colleague: Usually rice or noodles.（通常吃飯或麵。）
The Yes in the second conversation answers whether the food came from home. It does not say who cooked it. Listen for what the other person has answered before choosing your next question.
Recall without looking at the English
Say a complete sentence before checking. The goal is to communicate the meaning, without requiring an exact match to every word of the reference answer.
同事問你聲音怎麼了。你要說自己喉嚨痛，還沒有要說失聲。
I have a sore throat. You can also say My throat hurts.
你感冒了，覺得聲音越來越出不來，想向同事解釋。
I have a cold and I think I’m losing my voice.
同事剛說今天吃什麼，你想確認是從家裡帶來的。
You brought it from home?
聊完今天的餐點，你想問同事平常午餐吃什麼。
What do you usually have for lunch?
The main expressions are already available in the daily conversation practice, which uses a Chinese interface. After reading, choose a dialogue role-play, give your own answer first, then listen to the reference audio.
References
- Cambridge Dictionary: cold: the illness and the temperature meaning.
- Cambridge Dictionary: throat: the I have a sore throat example.
- Cambridge Dictionary: hurt: describing the body part that hurts.
- Cambridge Dictionary: voice: the example about a cold and becoming unable to speak.
- BBC Real Easy English: Talking about lunch: today's meal, habits and leftovers.
- ELLLO #625: What's for Lunch?: asking whether an already-mentioned lunch came from home.
- b-cafe: sore throats and losing your voice: a commercial language school's expressions for throat pain and voice loss.