כואבת לי הברך אחרי האימון.

Because הברך (the knee) is a feminine singular noun, and the verb/adjective-like form כואב / כואבת agrees with it.

• כואב = masculine singular
• כואבת = feminine singular

So:

• כואב לי הראש = My head hurts / I have a headache
  (הראש is masculine)
• כואבת לי הברך = My knee hurts
  (הברך is feminine)

לי literally means to me.

In Hebrew, pain is often expressed with a structure that is closer to:

• The knee hurts to me

rather than the English structure:

• My knee hurts

So כואבת לי הברך is literally something like The knee hurts to me, but the natural English translation is My knee hurts.

This ל־ structure is very common with physical sensations:

• כואב לי הראש = My head hurts
• כואבת לי הבטן = My stomach hurts
• כואבות לי הרגליים = My legs hurt

That is just a very common Hebrew way of expressing bodily sensations and discomfort.

Hebrew often uses:

• כואב/כואבת + ל־ + body part

So instead of focusing on possession (my knee), Hebrew often frames it as a sensation experienced by someone.

That said, Hebrew can also use possession in some contexts, but כואבת לי הברך is the most natural everyday phrasing.

In this kind of sentence, Hebrew very often uses the definite article with body parts:

• הראש
• הבטן
• הברך

So כואבת לי הברך literally has the knee, even though in English we say my knee.

This is normal Hebrew usage. The ownership is already understood from לי (to me), so using ה־ on the body part sounds natural.

Usually, no—not in the normal meaning my knee hurts.

כואבת לי הברך is the standard, natural form.

If you remove ה־, it sounds less natural and may suggest something more indefinite, like a knee hurts me, which is not how Hebrew normally expresses this idea.

For body parts in this pattern, the definite form is what you usually want.

Yes, you can, and it is grammatically correct. It means the same basic thing: My knee hurts.

But there is a difference in style and emphasis:

• כואבת לי הברך = more natural, everyday Hebrew
• הברך שלי כואבת = also correct, but more explicitly says my knee

The second version may sound a little more emphatic or contrastive in some contexts, as if you are specifically focusing on my knee.

In ordinary conversation, כואבת לי הברך is usually the more idiomatic choice.

In this sentence, it behaves like a verb form meaning hurts / is hurting, though learners often notice that it also looks adjective-like because it changes for gender and number.

The root is כ־א־ב, connected with pain.

In present-tense Hebrew, many verb forms look similar to adjectives and agree in gender and number:

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

So in practice, you can think of כואבת here as hurts.

Because in present tense, Hebrew usually does not use a separate word for am / is / are.

So Hebrew says:

• כואבת לי הברך literally something like
• hurting to me the knee

There is no present-tense equivalent of English is in ordinary Hebrew sentences like this.

That is completely normal.

Both are possible, but they do not sound exactly the same.

• כואבת לי הברך is a very natural, common way to say it.
• הברך כואבת לי is also grammatical, but it puts more focus on the knee.

Hebrew word order is more flexible than English, and changing the order often changes the emphasis rather than the basic meaning.

In everyday speech, starting with כואבת לי... is very common when talking about pain.

It means after the workout / after the training session.

• אחרי = after
• האימון = the workout / the training / the practice session

So the phrase tells you when the knee hurts: after the workout.

Depending on context, אימון could mean:

• a gym workout
• a sports practice
• a training session

Because it means the workout or the training session, not just a workout.

Hebrew uses ה־ as the definite article the.

• אימון = a workout / training
• האימון = the workout / the training

In context, this usually refers to a specific workout that both speaker and listener understand.

Yes. אחרי basically means after, and in different contexts it can correspond to English expressions like:

• after
• following
• later than

In this sentence, the most natural translation is simply after the workout.

You would need plural agreement:

• כואבות לי הרגליים אחרי האימון

Why?

• הרגליים = the legs (feminine plural)
• so כואב / כואבת changes to כואבות

Compare:

• כואבת לי הברך = My knee hurts
• כואבות לי הרגליים = My legs hurt

You keep כואבת because it agrees with הברך, not with the person.

You only change לי:

• כואבת לו הברך אחרי האימון = His knee hurts after the workout
• כואבת לה הברך אחרי האימון = Her knee hurts after the workout

So:

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

It is pronounced roughly ha-BERekh in Modern Hebrew.

Learners often find it tricky because:

1. The spelling includes final ך, which is just the final form of כ.
2. The vowel pattern is not always obvious from English.
3. The r and the kh/ch sound may be unfamiliar.

A rough pronunciation guide for the whole sentence is:

ko-E-vet li ha-BERekh a-kha-REI ha-i-MUN

That is only approximate, but it helps beginners hear the rhythm.

Yes. כואבת here is present tense: hurts / is hurting.

So the sentence means that the knee hurts now, in relation to the workout that happened earlier.

If you wanted past or future, Hebrew would use different forms. For example, Hebrew can say things like:

• כאבה לי הברך = My knee hurt
• תכאב לי הברך = My knee will hurt

But in your sentence, it is present: כואבת.

Yes, very common.

The pattern:

• כואב/כואבת + ל־ + body part

is one of the most useful everyday patterns in Hebrew for talking about pain or discomfort.

Examples:

• כואב לי הראש = My head hurts
• כואבת לי היד = My arm/hand hurts
• כואבת לי הבטן = My stomach hurts
• כואבת לי הברך = My knee hurts

So this sentence is a great model to learn from.