Questions & Answers about У неё болит горло.
Russian usually does not say “She has …” with a verb like to have.
Instead it uses a structure «у + person (in genitive case)» + [something] that literally means “at/near/by someone there is [something]”.
- У неё болит горло. = At her the throat hurts → Her throat hurts / She has a sore throat.
So «у неё» here is the normal Russian way to express “she has …”, including “she has a pain / she has something hurting”.
«неё» is the genitive singular of она (she).
The preposition «у» always takes the genitive:
- у меня (of me)
- у тебя (of you, informal)
- у него (of him)
- у неё (of her)
- у нас (of us), etc.
So «у неё» is “by/at her” in a grammatical sense, but functionally it means “she has …” in this type of sentence.
Literally, «у» means something like “at, by, near” (a location close to someone or something).
- У её дома – by her house
- У стола – by the table
In «У неё болит горло», it’s no longer a physical location; it’s part of a fixed pattern for expressing possession or “having”:
- У неё есть машина. – She has a car.
- У неё болит горло. – She has a sore throat / Her throat hurts.
So it keeps its old “at/near” meaning in the background, but idiomatically it means “she has …”.
Russian generally doesn’t use a verb “to have” the way English does. Instead of:
- She has a sore throat.
Russian uses:
- У неё болит горло. – Literally: At her the throat hurts.
The idea of “having” is expressed by the preposition + genitive phrase (у неё) and the subject in the nominative (горло) plus a verb (болит). There is no separate word like “has” here.
«Болит» is the 3rd person singular, present tense of the verb «болеть» (to ache, to hurt, to be sore).
- Infinitive: боле́ть
- Он/она/оно болит – it hurts / is painful
- Они боля́т – they hurt / are painful
In «У неё болит горло», the subject is «горло» (throat), so the verb is 3rd person singular: болит (the throat hurts).
«Горло» here is in the nominative singular, because it is the subject of the verb:
- Горло болит. – The throat hurts.
- У неё болит горло. – Her throat hurts. (subject is still «горло»)
The у + неё phrase shows who has the problem, but the thing that hurts (горло) is in the nominative as the grammatical subject of болит.
Yes, you can say:
- Её горло болит. – Her throat hurts.
Differences:
- У неё болит горло. – Very standard, neutral, typical way to say someone has pain somewhere.
- Её горло болит. – Grammatically correct, but it puts more emphasis on “her throat” (e.g. her, not someone else’s), or sounds slightly more formal/contrasty in many situations.
In everyday speech, you will hear «У неё болит горло» much more often.
Yes:
- Горло болит. – [My] throat hurts.
If it’s clear from context who is speaking, Russians often omit the “у меня / у него / у неё” part. So «Горло болит» usually means My throat hurts when said by the speaker about themselves.
Use the same pattern with different pronouns:
- У меня болит горло. – My throat hurts.
- У него болит горло. – His throat hurts.
- У неё болит горло. – Her throat hurts.
- У нас болит горло. – Our throat hurts (usually each speaker individually, context clarifies).
For plural body parts:
- У нас болят горла. – Our throats hurt. (More textbook-like; in practice people often just keep it singular or specify differently, e.g. У нас болит горло у всех – all of us have a sore throat.)
Болит – 3rd person singular: one thing hurts.
- У меня болит голова. – My head hurts.
- У неё болит зуб. – Her tooth hurts.
Болят – 3rd person plural: several things hurt.
- У меня болят зубы. – My teeth hurt.
- У него болят ноги. – His legs/feet hurt.
So you choose болит / болят to agree with what is hurting (singular vs. plural noun), not with the person.
Yes, both are possible:
- У неё болит горло. – Neutral, standard word order.
- У неё горло болит. – Slightly more emphasis on горло (as the thing that hurts).
- Горло у неё болит. – Emphasizes the fact that it’s her throat that hurts (contrast with some other person or other body part).
All are correct; the basic meaning is the same, but word order can subtly shift focus/emphasis.
In everyday Russian, both are commonly expressed by the same sentence:
- У неё болит горло. – Her throat hurts / She has a sore throat.
If you want to sound more like “sore” as an adjective:
- У неё больное горло. – She has a sore (sick) throat.
But this sounds a bit more medical/formal and is much less common in casual speech than «У неё болит горло».
Use the verb болеть in past or future:
Past:
- У неё болело горло. – Her throat hurt / She had a sore throat.
Future:
- У неё будет болеть горло. – Her throat will hurt / She will have a sore throat.
Here:
- болело – past, neuter singular (because горло is neuter).
- будет болеть – future form using будет
- infinitive болеть.
IPA-like guide and stress marks:
- У неё болит горло – [u nʲɪˈjo bɐˈlʲit ˈɡorɫə]
Stresses:
- у неЁ – stress on ё
- боли́т – stress on и
- го́рло – stress on го́r- (first syllable)
So you hear: у неЁ болИт ГО́рло.