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Questions & Answers about У меня болит глаз.
Why does the sentence start with У меня? What does that literally mean?
Russian often uses the pattern у + Genitive to express possession or a personal experience: literally “at me.” With symptoms and body sensations, this is the default frame.
- У меня болит глаз. = “At me hurts the eye” → “My eye hurts.”
- Other persons: у тебя (you, informal), у него/у неё, у нас, у вас, у них.
You could say Мой глаз болит, but that’s usually for contrast/emphasis (“my eye hurts, not someone else’s”). The neutral, most natural choice is У меня….
What is the grammatical subject here?
The subject is глаз (eye), in the nominative singular. The verb боли́т is 3rd person singular to agree with глаз. The phrase у меня is not the subject; it’s a genitive phrase marking the experiencer (“at me”).
When do I use боли́т vs боля́т?
- Use боли́т (3rd person singular) with a singular body part: У меня боли́т глаз.
- Use боля́т (3rd person plural) with plural body parts: У меня боля́т глаза́.
How do I say it if both eyes hurt, or if I want to specify which eye?