У меня болит щёка.

My cheek hurts.

Breakdown of У меня болит щёка.

• меня: me
• болеть: to hurt
• щёка: the cheek

Questions & Answers about У меня болит щёка.

Why do we say У меня instead of using я as the subject?

In Russian, pains, illnesses, and many “having” situations are often expressed with the structure у + Genitive instead of using я as a subject.

• У меня literally means “at me / by me” and uses the Genitive case (я → меня).
• The real grammatical subject of the sentence is щёка (cheek), not я.
• So the structure is: У меня болит щёка = “At me hurts the cheek.”

Compare:

• У меня есть книга. – I have a book. (literally “At me there is a book.”)
• У меня болит щёка. – My cheek hurts. (literally “At me hurts the cheek.”)

Using я as the subject (Я болит щёка) would be ungrammatical.

What case is меня in, and why?

Меня is the Genitive singular of я (“I”).

The pattern is:

• у + Genitive = “at / by (someone)”

So:

• у меня – at me
• у тебя – at you (informal)
• у него / у неё – at him / at her
• у нас – at us
• у вас – at you (plural/formal)
• у них – at them

In sentences about pain, possession, etc., Russian uses this “у + Genitive” structure instead of a subject pronoun.

Why is it болит and not болю or something based on я?

Болит is the 3rd person singular form of the verb болеть (“to hurt, to ache” intransitively):

• я болею – I am ill / I fall ill (different meaning!)
• он / она / оно болит – he / she / it hurts / aches

In У меня болит щёка:

• The subject is щёка (3rd person singular feminine).
• The verb agrees with щёка, so it is болит, not болю.

So grammatically this is “The cheek hurts (at me),” not “I hurt my cheek.”

Why is щёка in the nominative? Shouldn’t pain use some other case?

In this sentence, щёка is the subject of the verb болит, so it must be in the Nominative case.

Structure:

• У меня (at me – Genitive, not the subject)
• болит (3rd singular verb)
• щёка (what is hurting? the cheek → subject → Nominative)

So:

• Что болит? – Щёка. (What hurts? The cheek.)
• Therefore: Щёка болит. / У меня болит щёка.

The person (“me”) is only the possessor / experiencer, not the grammatical subject.

Can I say Моя щёка болит instead? Is it the same?

Yes, Моя щёка болит is grammatically correct and understandable.

However, there are nuances:

• У меня болит щёка – the most natural, neutral way to say “My cheek hurts” in everyday speech.
• Моя щёка болит – possible, but sounds more emphatic or contrastive, like:
  • “My cheek hurts (not someone else’s).”
  • Or in a context where you are specifying which part hurts.

In normal conversation about your own pain, Russians overwhelmingly prefer:

• У меня болит щёка.

Can I change the word order? For example: Щёка у меня болит or Болит у меня щёка?

Yes, Russian allows flexible word order, but the emphasis changes:

1. У меня болит щёка.
   – Neutral, standard: “My cheek hurts.”

2. Щёка у меня болит.
   – More focus on щёка, like:

   • “It’s my cheek that hurts (not something else).”

3. Болит у меня щёка.
   – More expressive / emotional, often used when complaining or telling a story:

   • “Hurts, my cheek does” (similar dramatic feel in English).

Grammatically all are correct, but the first is the default neutral version.

What’s the difference between У меня болит щёка and Мне больно?

Both relate to pain, but they function differently:

• У меня болит щёка.

  • Specifies what hurts (the cheek).
  • Structure: “At me hurts the cheek.”

• Мне больно.

  • Literally: “It is painful to me.”
  • Мне is Dative (to me).
  • No specific body part is mentioned; it just means “I feel pain / It hurts.”

You can combine them:

• Мне больно, у меня болит щёка. – It hurts; my cheek hurts.

Why not say У меня есть болит щёка or something with есть?

The verb есть is used to express existence / possession (“there is / there are; to have”):

• У меня есть книга. – I have a book.
• У него есть машина. – He has a car.

Pain with болеть does not use есть. It’s just:

• У меня болит щёка. – My cheek hurts.
• У него болит голова. – He has a headache.

So У меня есть болит щёка is ungrammatical.

How do I say it in the plural, like “My cheeks hurt”?

You change both the noun and the verb to plural:

• Singular: У меня болит щёка. – My cheek hurts.
• Plural: У меня болят щёки. – My cheeks hurt.

Patterns:

• болит – 3rd person singular → used with one body part (голова, рука, нога, щёка).
• болят – 3rd person plural → used with multiple body parts (глаза, ноги, руки, щёки).

Examples:

• У меня болит голова. – My head hurts.
• У меня болят глаза. – My eyes hurt.

How is щёка pronounced, especially the щ and ё?

Pronunciation (IPA-ish): [щока́], usually transcribed as shchyah-KA (stress on the last syllable).

Details:

• щ – a long, very soft “sh” sound, often taught as “shch”, but in modern Russian it’s closer to a very soft, long sh.
• ё – pronounced “yo” (like “yolk” without l), and it is always stressed here: щёКА́.

Syllables:

• щё-ка → [щё] + [ка]

Also note: in many printed texts, ё is written as е:

• щека (printed) but still pronounced щёка.

What is the gender and declension of щёка? How does it change?

Щёка is:

• Feminine
• Ends in -а, follows a typical 1st declension pattern, but with ё/е alternation.

Key forms (singular → plural):

• Nominative:
  
  • щёка – a cheek
  • щёки – cheeks
• Genitive:
  
  • щёки – of a cheek
  • щёк – of cheeks
• Dative:
  
  • щёке
  • щёкам
• Accusative:
  
  • щеку
  • щёки
• Instrumental:
  
  • щекой / щекою
  • щёками
• Prepositional:
  
  • щёке
  • щёках

For pain:

• У меня болит щёка. – My cheek hurts.
• У меня болят щёки. – My cheeks hurt.

Is there a diminutive form like “little cheek” (e.g. when speaking to a child)?

Yes, a common diminutive is щёчка:

• щёка → щёчка (little cheek)
• Plural: щёчки

Examples:

• Поцелую тебя в щёчку. – I’ll kiss you on the little cheek. (affectionate)
• To a child: У тебя щёчка болит? – Does your little cheek hurt?

The grammar with болеть is the same:

• У меня болит щёчка.
• У меня болят щёчки.