Have medicine or take medicine and in which tense? (2025)

In a grammar question , It was put an underline under this word to correct :

She got better when she

the medicine

-I said we may use take
But I want to know .. Should we put take in present or past perfect or let it in past ??

Thanks in advance ,
Sincerely ,
Nehad

Why does it alther the meaning ?
And What is the difference between "take " and "got" when it comes with "medicine"
??

Thank you very very much

"She got" is past tense so the rest of the sentence should match:

She got better when she took the medicine.

However, recovering from illness takes time. "When" can imply she got better at the moment she took the medicine:
The light came on when she pressed the button.

To indicate the passage of time we can use the past perfect:

She got better when she had taken the medicine.

X = when she got better
x = when she took the medicine

past ---x-X-------->present

or as suggested by Panjandrum

She got better after taking the medicine.
past --x-x-x----X----->present

Aardvark01

Thank you for your examples, they helped me as well !

sandybelle89 said:

...So , While talking or writing Which one is closer to the life ? or Which is more comon ?

Click to expand...

They are all common forms. The one you choose depends upon the situation you wish to describe. For example, if she only took the medicine once we can use either took or drank, but if she had medicine two or more times we would not say "drank" (because it implies she drank it all in one go) only some form of "take".

"Take your medicine" is more idiomatic as it implies "a dose" (a measure or portion, usually one or two teaspoons full).

We also need to consider the point at which she got better (X) in relation to when she took the medicine (x):
immediately
She got better when she took/drank the medicine.
past ----xX------>present

later
She got better after she took/drank the medicine.
past ---x----X--->present

"Drink," in any tense, can of course apply only to liquid medicine. One can "take" any medicine administered orally--liquid, pill, capsule. I'm not sure about suppositories. Any oral medicine can of course also be "swallowed," and "swallow" can be used as well as "take one's medicine" metaphorically to mean to accept the consequences of a previous decision or action. There's also "take" or "swallow your own medicine," meaning to undergo the process or solution to a problem that you are urging on others--for example, if you recommend that people stop buying Starbucks coffee to save money, someone might ask, "Are you willing to take/swallow your own medicine." Although this metaphorical medicine could be conceived to be a liquid, I don't think "drink" would be used with one's or one's own "medicine."

Regarding tense, if everything happened in the past, you could use the past perfect:

"She got better after she had taken/drunk her medicine," since she got better in the past but she had to take or drink her medicine before that, farther back in the past than her recovery from whatever ailed her.

If her recovery is not yet complete, you could say,

"She is getting better now that she has taken/drunk her medicine." Here, the present perfect indicates that she completed the process of consuming the medicine in the past, while the present continuous indicates an action not yet completed.

You could also describe her with a past participle:

"Having taken/drunk her medicine, she is better/is getting better," depending on whether her recovery is complete or not.

Æsop said:

"Drink," in any tense, can of course apply only to liquid medicine. One can "take" any medicine administered orally--liquid, pill, capsule.

Click to expand...

I have actually heard persons, including health care workers, refer to taking pills with the aid of a liquid as "drinking pills". So it's not entirely uncommon to hear, "Make sure to drink two of those pills and then take a nap." This would indicate that the pills should be taken with a liquid.

I feel

She got better (past) ...
... after she took the medicine (past)
or
... after she drank the medicine (past).
or
... after she had the medicine (past) ----- is more appropriate

Took literally means taking it and not necessarily consuming it.

had means having it or consuming it.

e.g.
I took tea.
I had tea.

X = when she got better
x = when she took the medicine
Y = when she consumed it

She got better after she took the medicine
past --x-x-x----X----->present (Y missing)
past --
She got better after she had the medicine
past --x-x-x----Y----X----->present

Please revert ...

Regards
Aashish

Hello Aashish
It seems that you are comparing the unusual old-fashioned idiom 'to take tea' with 'take medicine'.
'Take' is the usual word that means put the medicine in your mouth and swallow it, whether it's liquid or pills. I think that's what you're calling 'consume'. There are other ways of getting a medicine into your body of course, such as injecting it, but I think we would also use 'take' for all the ways in casual conversation.

Do you take any medicine for that illness?
Yes I take two: one is a daily pill and the other is a weekly injection.

Now, to 'take tea' means refers to an occasion where people are drinking tea and having/eating cakes and delicious savoury titbits. It doesn't necessarily refer to actually consuming the drink tea. We could use 'having' tea the same way as we 'have' lunch and other meals.

May I speak to Lady Golightly?
I'm afraid not. She's taking/having tea with the American ambassador.

When we need to talk about putting tea into our mouth and swallowing it, we say we are drinking it. Depending on the situation, the context, we might use 'having a cup of tea'.

Why don't you come round to my place and have a cup of tea and a chat?

I hope that helps - I couldn't work out all the xxY business.