У ребёнка болит ножка.

the child

Breakdown of У ребёнка болит ножка.

• болеть: to hurt
• ножка: the leg

Questions & Answers about У ребёнка болит ножка.

Why does the sentence start with у ребёнка instead of using a word that directly means the child as the subject?

Russian often expresses someone has pain somewhere with the pattern:

у + person in the genitive + болит / болят + body part

So У ребёнка болит ножка literally works like:

At the child, the leg hurts
which naturally means
The child has a sore leg / The child’s leg hurts.

This is a very common Russian structure for pain and physical discomfort.

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Why is ребёнок changed to ребёнка?

Because after the preposition у, Russian uses the genitive case.

The dictionary form is ребёнок = child.
After у, it becomes ребёнка.

So:

• ребёнок = child
• у ребёнка = at the child / the child has

This is not a direct subject form; it is part of the possession/experiencer structure.

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Why is it болит and not болят?