Questions & Answers about У меня иногда болит голова вечером.
Why do we say У меня болит голова instead of something like Я болею голова or я имею головную боль?
Russian uses a special construction with у + [person in genitive] + болит + [body part in nominative] to talk about pain:
- У меня болит голова – literally: At me hurts head → I have a headache / My head hurts.
Using я имею for possession is usually too formal or unnatural in such everyday sentences.
Я болею means I am ill / I am sick (with some disease), not something hurts. So Я болею голова is simply wrong.
You can say Моя голова болит, but that has a bit more emphasis on my head (for contrast or emotion). The neutral, most common way is У меня болит голова.
What case is меня in У меня and why is it used?
Меня here is in the genitive case (of я).
The pattern у + genitive means “at/with someone” and is a very common way to express:
- possession: У меня есть книга – I have a book.
- states/conditions: У меня болит голова – I have a headache.
So У меня literally means “at me / with me”, and Russian uses this instead of “I have …” in many situations.
Why is голова in the nominative case and not (accusative)?