Question 1

Why do we say У меня болит зуб instead of Я болю зуб?

Accepted Answer

Russian expresses aches and pains with the construction “у + genitive pronoun/noun + 3rd-person verb.” Literally, “at me the tooth aches.” You cannot say Я болю зуб because я would require a different verb form (and is not how Russians talk about things hurting them).

Question 2

What case is меня, and why is it used here?

Accepted Answer

меня is the genitive form of я. The preposition у always takes the genitive. So у меня literally means “at me,” indicating that something (the tooth) is aching in relation to me.

Question 3

What case and role does зуб play in the sentence?

Accepted Answer

зуб is in the nominative case because it’s the grammatical subject of the verb болит. Even though in English you’d say “I have a toothache,” in Russian it’s “(the) tooth hurts (at me).”

Question 4

Why is the verb болит singular here?

Accepted Answer

The verb always agrees with its subject in number and person. Since зуб is singular, you use the 3rd-person singular present tense болит.

Question 5

How would you say “my teeth hurt” in Russian?

Accepted Answer

Switch зуб to its plural form зубы and use the 3rd-person plural verb болят:  
• У меня болят зубы.

Question 6

How do you talk about other body parts hurting? For example, “my head hurts” or “my back hurts.”

Accepted Answer

Replace зуб with the nominative of the desired body part and adjust the verb for singular/plural:  
• У меня болит голова. (“My head hurts.”)  
• У меня болит спина. (“My back hurts.”)

Question 7

How do you ask “Does your tooth hurt?” in Russian?

Accepted Answer

Change the pronoun to тебя (informal) or вас (formal/plural) and add a question intonation:  
• У тебя болит зуб?  
• У вас болит зуб?

Question 8

How do you say “No, my tooth doesn’t hurt”?

Accepted Answer

Insert negation не before the verb. You can also add нет for emphasis:  
• У меня не болит зуб.  
• Нет, у меня не болит зуб.

Question 9

Can you say Мне болит зуб instead? Is there a difference?

Accepted Answer

Grammatically, мне is the dative of я, so Мне болит зуб is understandable. However, Russians strongly prefer У меня болит зуб for most pains. You’ll hear Мне болит голова sometimes for headaches, but otherwise stick with у меня.

Question 10

What’s the difference between болит and болеет?

Accepted Answer

• болит – an impersonal 3rd-person form meaning “it aches” (used with у меня).  
• болеет – 3rd-person singular of болеть, meaning “he/she is ill” or “to be sick.”  
Example: У меня болит живот (“My stomach aches”) vs. Он болеет (“He is sick”).

У меня болит зуб.

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