כואבת לי הרגל.

Because רגל is a feminine singular noun in Hebrew, and the present-tense form כואבת agrees with it.

So the pattern is:

• masculine singular: כואב
• feminine singular: כואבת
• masculine plural: כואבים
• feminine plural: כואבות

Since הרגל is feminine singular, כואבת is the correct form.

לי means to me.

In this kind of Hebrew sentence, the person experiencing the pain is often marked with ל־ plus a pronoun:

• לי = to me
• לך = to you
• לו = to him
• לה = to her

So כואבת לי הרגל is literally something like the leg hurts to me, which is how Hebrew commonly expresses my leg hurts.

Because with body parts, Hebrew very often uses this structure:

• ל־
  • person
• the body part with the
• a pain/state verb like כואב / כואבת

So instead of saying my leg hurts, Hebrew often says the equivalent of the leg hurts to me.

That is why הרגל has ה־ and not necessarily שלי.

So:

• כואבת לי הרגל = natural, very common
• הרגל שלי כואבת = also possible, but more explicit

Hebrew allows more flexibility in word order than English.

Both of these are possible:

• כואבת לי הרגל
• הרגל כואבת לי

The version with כואבת first is very natural in everyday Hebrew, especially in expressions about pain, discomfort, and physical states. It can sound a bit more like reporting the condition first: hurts me, the leg.

The version with הרגל first is also correct, and may feel a little more straightforward or neutral to English speakers.

In Modern Hebrew, it is usually treated as the present-tense form of the verb לכאוב.

So:

• כאב = hurt / ached
• כואב / כואבת = hurts / is hurting

That said, Hebrew present-tense forms often behave a bit like adjectives in that they agree in gender and number with the noun. So learners often notice that it feels partly verbal and partly adjectival.

For practical purposes, it is best to think of כואבת here as the present-tense verb form.

Yes, absolutely.

הרגל שלי כואבת also means my leg hurts.

The difference is mostly one of style and focus:

• כואבת לי הרגל = very idiomatic, very common
• הרגל שלי כואבת = more explicitly my leg, which can be useful for contrast or emphasis

For example, if you want to stress that it is my leg, not something else, הרגל שלי כואבת may be more natural.

The form of כואב changes to match the noun.

Examples:

• כואב לי הראש = my head hurts
  (ראש is masculine singular)

• כואבת לי היד = my hand hurts
  (יד is feminine singular)

• כואבות לי הרגליים = my legs hurt
  (רגליים is feminine plural)

• כואבות לי העיניים = my eyes hurt
  (עיניים is feminine plural in agreement)

So the pain word agrees with the body part, not with the person.

Yes, and it is common, but it is slightly different.

• כואבת לי הרגל = my leg hurts
• כואב לי ברגל = it hurts in my leg / I have pain in my leg

The version with ברגל focuses more on the location of the pain, while כואבת לי הרגל presents the leg itself as the thing that hurts.

In everyday speech, both can be used, depending on what exactly you want to express.

Because in Hebrew present-tense sentences, there is usually no present-tense form of to be.

English says:

• My leg is hurting
• My leg hurts

Hebrew simply uses:

• כואבת לי הרגל

There is no extra word corresponding to is here.

A simple learner-friendly pronunciation is:

kho-E-vet lee ha-RE-gel

A few notes:

• כ here sounds like the ch in German Bach or Scottish loch
• stress is usually on:
  • -E- in כואבת
  • RE in הרגל

So the rhythm is roughly:

kho-E-vet lee ha-RE-gel