Lekar me pregleda zbog kašlja.

Me is the unstressed accusative form of ja (I).

• ja = nominative, used for the subject
• me / mene = accusative, used for the direct object

In this sentence, the doctor is doing the action to me, so Serbian uses the object form.

Why not mene?
Because me is the short clitic form, which is the normal choice in an unmarked sentence. Mene is the full/stressed form and is used for emphasis or after certain prepositions.

So:

• Lekar me pregleda... = neutral
• Lekar mene pregleda... = more emphatic, like The doctor examines me

Because me is a clitic, and Serbian clitics usually go in second position in the sentence or clause.

So in:

Lekar me pregleda zbog kašlja.

the first element is Lekar, and the clitic me comes right after it.

This is very typical in Serbian. You will often see short pronouns and short auxiliary forms placed this way.

Because zbog requires the genitive case, and the genitive singular of kašalj is kašlja.

So:

• kašalj = nominative
• kašlja = genitive

After zbog (because of / due to), Serbian uses genitive:

• zbog kašlja = because of a cough / due to the cough

Zbog means because of, due to, or on account of.

So zbog kašlja literally means because of a cough.

This may feel a little different from English, because English often says The doctor examines me for a cough, but Serbian naturally uses zbog to express the reason.

This is a good question, because pregleda can be tricky.

It is the 3rd person singular form of pregledati. The important point is that pregledati is usually a perfective verb, meaning it refers to a completed action.

Because of that, pregleda is not the most straightforward everyday present form for a general ongoing action. In many contexts, learners expect the imperfective verb pregledavati, giving:

• Lekar me pregledava...

As written, pregleda can suggest a single completed examination, and in some contexts it may also be understood as an aorist form in narrative style.

So the sentence is useful, but the verb form is a bit more nuanced than a simple English present.

This is mainly a question of aspect.

• pregledati = perfective, a completed examination
• pregledavati = imperfective, ongoing, repeated, or habitual examination

Very roughly:

• Lekar me pregleda = the doctor examines/examined me as a complete event
• Lekar me pregledava = the doctor is examining me / examines me regularly

English does not mark aspect the same way Serbian does, so this is one of the big things learners have to get used to.

Both can mean doctor, but they are not always identical.

• lekar specifically means a medical doctor/physician
• doktor can also mean a medical doctor, but it can additionally mean someone with a doctorate

So lekar is often the clearer word if you specifically mean a physician.

Because Serbian does not have articles like English a/an and the.

So lekar can mean:

• a doctor
• the doctor

and context tells you which one is meant.

If Serbian speakers want to be more specific, they can use other words, for example:

• jedan lekar = a doctor
• taj lekar = that/the doctor

But in many sentences, no article is needed at all.

Yes. Serbian word order is more flexible than English word order.

The neutral version here is:

Lekar me pregleda zbog kašlja.

But other orders are possible for emphasis or style, for example:

• Zbog kašlja me lekar pregleda.
• Lekar zbog kašlja me pregleda. (less neutral)

What usually stays important is the clitic placement: me still tends to appear early, in second position.

A rough English approximation is KAH-shlya.

Two useful sound notes:

• š sounds like sh in ship
• lj is a soft sound, something like ly in million, though not exactly the same

So kašlja is pronounced approximately KAH-shlya.