He has problems breathing because of his asthma

Silverobama

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Aug 8, 2010
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Chinese
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China
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China
I wrote the sentence “He has problems breathing because of his asthma”. Is this sentence natural? Would native speakers phrase it like I did?
 
It's OK. It's grammatically correct and the meaning is clear. That's what's important. There are lots of other ways to say it. There's no single way that all native speakers would express it.
 
Why don't you try to rephrase it yourself? Let's see what you can come up with. You've got all the salient facts in that one sentence so just try to find another way to express it (without losing any of those basic facts).
 
Why don't you try to rephrase it yourself? Let's see what you can come up with. You've got all the salient facts in that one sentence so just try to find another way to express it (without losing any of those basic facts).
I’d love to but I know it’s not natural so I am always hesitant. How about:

He finds it difficult to breathe for the sake of his asthma.
 
I’d love to but I know it’s not natural so I am always hesitant. How about:

He finds it difficult to breathe for the sake of his asthma.
No. That's not how "for the sake of" is used. Try again. Here's a clue for one possibility - start the sentence with "His asthma".
 
How about:

His asthma has become the scourge of his breathing.
 
How about:

His asthma has become the scourge of his breathing.
No. That's not how we use "scourge". You're trying to make it too complicated. You wanted things that native speakers would say in everyday life. We don't talk like we're in a Dickens novel. I'm going to give you one alternative to your original so you can see what I'm getting at:

His asthma makes it hard for him to breathe.
 
@Silverobama Most people are are somewhat familiar with asthma. What's my point? You could just say, "He has asthma." I'm not saying you should say it that way. I'm saying you could say it that way.
 
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I wrote the sentence “He has problems breathing because of his asthma”. Is this sentence natural? Would native speakers phrase it like I did?
I might use "has problems breathing," as you did, or I might use "has problems with breathing" instead, or even "has breathing problems."
 
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