– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

[Music]

hello everyone my name is Andrew Cassie

and you are listening to cue lips this

is real talk

by cubes the series where we teach you

the English expressions you need to know

for real-world situations today we're

going to teach you about how to pick up

and buy medicine at a drugstore or when

visiting the pharmacy you can get the

study guide for this episode on our

website cue lips calm and it's really

the best way to study with us here today

in the study guides you'll get a

transcript detailed vocabulary

explanations and definitions real-life

examples a comprehension quiz and more

so visit cue lips calm to give it a

download and helping me today with this

episode is my co-host Cassie Cassie

hello hello how's it going

I'm doing pretty well Cassie how about

you yep just living my life it's Friday

today though yes it's amazing

TGIF thank God it's Friday some people

say fry a fry yay ah like celebration

yes hey fry yay yeah anyway Cassie let's

get into today's lesson we are going to

teach all of our listeners phrases and

expressions that they need when visiting

a drugstore to pick up medication

okay now the focus is not necessarily on

how to ask for medication but how to

understand and interpret the

instructions that you receive from the

pharmacists okay so you know how when

you buy medicine at the drugstore the

pharmacist will tell you some

instructions how to take the medicine so

that you don't die

right it's very important or get sicker

than you already are so what we'll do

here today everyone is we are going to

listen to some example conversations

between a customer and a pharmacist at

the drugstore and after we listen to

each example conversation then Cassie

and I will go back through that

conversation and talk about some of the

important English that was used to make

that conversation successful sound good

sounds great all right so let's start by

listening to the first example

conversation hello I'm here to pick up

my prescription I'm mark Flint ah yes

mr. Flint here's your prescription you

should take these pills twice a day once

in the morning and once in the evening

until they're all gone will they make me

feel drowsy only at night to help you

sleep make sure to avoid taking pills on

an empty stomach okay I'll make sure to

eat beforehand thank you okay so in this

first conversation the customer mark

asks the pharmacist for his prescription

his medicine the pharmacist gave him the

medicine and the instructions on how to

take it and then when she was giving the

instructions on his prescription the

pharmacist he often uses like a certain

pattern to introduce how to use that

medicine for example a certain time

period or how many times a day so in

this dialogue the pharmacist says he

should take some pills twice a day in

the morning and in the evening and

Cassie let's listen to that part of the

conversation another couple of times you

should take these pills twice a day once

in the morning and once in the evening

until they're all gone you should take

these pills twice a day once in the

morning and once in the evening until

they're all gone

this information could be substituted

for any different time period Andrew can

you give some examples yeah so maybe a

pharmacist would say something like you

should take a spoonful of medicine every

eight hours we should take 10

milliliters of this medicine every eight

hours if this was like a cough syrup or

a liquid medicine mm-hmm or maybe

they'll say something like you should

take the tablets once a day for six days

really just telling you the amount and

how frequently you need to consume a

medicine right yes and then another

thing that was mentioned were words

related to side effects of said medicine

right the pharmacist mentioned that his

medication might cause him to feel

drowsy tired drowsy sleepy right yeah

and there are unfortunately many

different side effects that can come

from taking medicine right you could be

Taurasi you could get a headache

nauseous nauseous you could have a dry

mouth or the opposite you could start

sweating there are lots of different

side effects and actually all you need

to do to know about all the side effects

of medicine guys is watch American

daytime TV and you'll see commercials

for medicine and they tell you all the

side effects with those commercials are

the best it's always a shock for me as a

Canadian because I think it's illegal to

advertise medicine on Canadian TV but

it's not in America so when I watch

American TV and see American TV

commercials I'm always shocked because

maybe our listeners don't know but they

have to legally list all of the side

effects that may occur with that

medication in the commercial but many

medications have many possible side

effects

so at the end of the commercial you get

somebody speaking very very quickly to

try and list all of the different side

effects yes but they have to do it with

a smile like they're happy about it so

they're saying with a big smile they say

things like this medication could cause

rashes severe seizures death it's really

ridiculous actually right yeah but

that's maybe a topic for a different

episode let's get back to the content at

hand here the final thing that we should

mention maybe from this example

conversation was the pharmacists who

said that you should avoid taking the

pills on an empty stomach this is

something that you are very likely to

hear the pharmacists tell you don't take

your pills on an empty stomach

and taking something on an empty stomach

means having an empty stomach right not

eating first let's listen to that part

of the conversation another couple of

times make sure to avoid taking pills on

an empty stomach make sure to avoid

taking pills on an empty stomach yes you

should always take your pills during or

directly after eating a meal mmhmm yeah

usually of course there might be some

medicine where you want to take it on an

empty stomach but that's true they'll

often tell you don't take it on an empty

stomach all right Cassie why don't we

listen to another example conversation

again between a customer and a

pharmacist hello have you got anything

for a sore throat yeah of course

these pills should help you can take up

to two at a time every eight hours until

the pain goes away do I need to eat

something before I take them it's not

necessary but make sure to avoid eating

spicy food and dairy products until your

symptoms subside

it doesn't clear up after a few days

then you should go see a doctor alright

so in this conversation that we just

heard a customer went to the drugstore

to buy some medicine for a sore throat

and the pharmacist recommended some

pills that would help make the pain go

away and we heard some interesting

vocabulary in this conversation the

pharmacist said that the patient should

keep taking the pills until the symptoms

subside let's listen to that part of the

conversation another couple of times

make sure to avoid eating spicy food and

dairy products until your symptoms

subsides make sure to avoid eating spicy

food and dairy products until your

symptoms subside what does this mean

Kassie until the symptoms subside

subside means kind of disappear go away

so she should keep taking the medicine

until all of her symptoms disappear

right so it's probably like this in

every language but there's jargon that's

used when you talk to a doctor or a

healthcare provider they use you know

some words that are kind of only used to

talk about the body and and medicine and

subside is used in other contexts of

English as well but it's really

frequently used when talking about

symptoms mm-hmm

we call it a collocation it's a word

that is always kind of partnered with

this word symptoms is the word subside

I think another interesting phrase in

this example was the last sentence if it

doesn't clear up after a few days you

should go see a doctor it doesn't clear

up after a few days and you should go

see a doctor

it doesn't clear up after a few days

then you should go see a doctor

clear up is just another way to say

subside alright we especially use clear

up to talk about skin issues can be used

to talk about other medical issues as

well but if you have a rash or acne or

any kind of skin issue if that goes away

then we say it cleared up mm-hmm if

you're sore throat symptoms also subside

and go away then they also clear up so I

think what we'll do now is talk about

some other key vocabulary that you're

probably going to need to know to have a

successful trip to the pharmacy and back

the first one that I wanted to highlight

here cassie is dose do se dose what is a

dose dose is the amount of a certain

medication that you're taking right so

for example like a dose of Tylenol right

so it could also refer to the strength

of the medicine all right so maybe you

have a prescription medicine that has

for example five milligrams of strength

that would be a five milligram dose or

you could have ten milligrams that would

be a ten milligram dose so it refers to

the quantity and the strength of the

medicine now this one is really really

important when just talking about

medicine in general it is antibiotics

antibiotics yeah literally anti

bacterial so fighting off bacteria in

the body right so if you have some sort

of bacterial attack or infection then

the doctor will probably prescribe

antibiotics to help clear up that

bacterial problem that you have alrights

another kind of medicine is an itch

cream and it's cream yeah this comes in

handy in the summertime when you might

come across a bunch of mosquitoes or

poison ivy rights or maybe if you have a

spider bites or or you in who knows it

could be maybe you have a skin problem

like a rash or something then an itch

cream will help you soothe the itching

sensation all right so soothe means calm

and subside and of course an itch it's

just that annoying feeling that you get

on your skin all right yeah it's scratch

it you need to scratch it yes

scratch an itch actually this is

something that I hear native speakers

confused sometimes sometimes they'll say

oh I need to each this I need to itch

this but it's really scratch it scratch

an itch even native speakers get this

confused sometimes the next word that I

wanted to talk about is

anti-inflammatory anti-inflammatory what

is an anti-inflammatory what kind of

medicine is this so anti the prefix is

the same as in antibiotics it's like get

rid of - okay

and then inflammatory means when your

skin swells up and gets really red

usually due to infection so an

anti-inflammatory medicine would help

reduce the swelling and puffiness in

your body mm-hmm yeah word geeks will

notice that that word inflammatory has

flam in the middle which is like flame

right so you can imagine some part of

your body flaming up then becoming

really irritated and painful and so an

anti-inflammatory medicine will

helped reduce that kind of inflammation

[Applause]

[Music]

well everyone that brings us to the end

of today's Real Talk episode thank you

for listening we hope that you learned a

lot here with us today

just to recap we learned about some

situational English expressions that you

can use next time you have to buy

medicine at a pharmacy and understand

what the pharmacist tells you understand

the pharmacists instructions check out

our website

Kuehl it's calm if you want to get the

transcript and practice exercises for

this episode you can go to the website

to download the study guide alright and

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goodbye see you around

you

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
prescription /prɪˈskrɪpʃən/ B2	noun - a written order from a doctor for medication
pharmacist /ˈfɑːrməsɪst/ B2	noun - a professional who prepares and dispenses medication
medication /ˌmɛdɪˈkeɪʃən/ B2	noun - a drug used for medical treatment
dosage /ˈdoʊsɪdʒ/ C1	noun - the amount of a drug that is taken at one time
side effect /saɪd ɪˈfɛkt/ B2	noun - an unintended reaction to a drug
symptom /ˈsɪmptəm/ B1	noun - a sign indicating the presence of a disease
avoid /əˈvɔɪd/ A2	verb - to keep away from
drowsy /ˈdraʊzi/ B2	adjective - feeling sleepy; half‑asleep
tablet /ˈtæblət/ B1	noun - a small, solid dose of medication to swallow
milliliter /ˈmɪlɪˌliːtər/ B2	noun - a unit of liquid volume equal to one thousandth of a liter
anti-inflammatory /ˌænti ɪnˈflæməˌtɔri/ C1	adjective - reducing inflammation or swelling
antibiotic /ˌæntɪbaɪˈɑːtɪk/ B2	noun - a drug that kills or inhibits bacteria
inflammation /ˌɪnfləˈmeɪʃən/ B2	noun - the body's response to injury or infection, causing redness and swelling
rash /ræʃ/ B2	noun - a spot on the skin caused by irritation or disease
seizure /ˈsiːʒər/ C1	noun - a sudden uncontrolled electrical disturbance in the brain
subside /səbˈsaɪd/ C1	verb - to become less intense or severe
clear up /klɪr ʌp/ B2	verb - to become better or disappear (e.g., symptoms)
itch /ɪtʃ/ A2	noun - an irritating sensation on the skin that makes you want to scratch verb - to cause an itching sensation
cream /kriːm/ A2	noun - a thick liquid used for skin treatment
soothe /suːð/ C1	verb - to calm or relieve pain or discomfort

Key Grammar Structures

• You should take these pills twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening.

  ➔ Modal verb of advice (should + base verb)

  ➔ The modal verb **"should"** expresses a recommendation or advice.

• Make sure to avoid taking pills on an empty stomach.

  ➔ Imperative clause with “make sure to + verb”

  ➔ The phrase **"make sure to"** is used to give strong advice or instruction.

• If it doesn't clear up after a few days, you should go see a doctor.

  ➔ First conditional (if + present simple, will/should + base verb)

  ➔ The **"if"** clause uses the present simple to talk about a possible future situation; **"should"** gives advice about what to do then.

• You could get a headache.

  ➔ Modal verb of possibility (could + base verb)

  ➔ The modal **"could"** expresses a possible outcome or side‑effect.

• You might be drowsy.

  ➔ Modal verb of possibility (might + base verb)

  ➔ The modal **"might"** suggests a less certain possible side‑effect.

• You can take up to two at a time every eight hours.

  ➔ Modal verb of ability/permission (can + base verb) + quantifier phrase "up to"

  ➔ The modal **"can"** indicates ability or permission; **"up to"** sets a maximum limit.

• Let's start by listening to the first example conversation.

  ➔ First-person plural imperative with "let's" + base verb

  ➔ **"Let's"** is a contraction of “let us” and is used to make a suggestion that includes the speaker and listeners.

• You have to avoid spicy food and dairy products until your symptoms subside.

  ➔ Modal verb of necessity (have to + base verb) + until‑clause

  ➔ **"have to"** expresses a strong obligation; the **"until"** clause indicates the time limit for that obligation.

• You need to take the medicine after a meal.

  ➔ Modal verb of necessity/requirement (need to + base verb)

  ➔ **"need to"** signals that something is required or essential.