Лікар оглянув долоню.

Because долоню is the accusative singular form, and this noun is the direct object of the verb.

• dictionary form: долоня = palm
• in the sentence: оглянув долоню = examined the palm

For many feminine nouns ending in -я, the accusative singular ends in -ю:

• долоня → долоню
• земля → землю
• лінія → лінію

So Лікар оглянув долоню literally has the structure Doctor examined palm-ACC.

It is in the accusative case.

Ukrainian uses the accusative for the direct object of most transitive verbs, including оглянути (to examine / inspect).

So:

• лікар = subject, nominative
• оглянув = verb
• долоню = direct object, accusative

This is very similar to English structure, except that in Ukrainian the noun ending shows its role more clearly.

Оглянув is the past tense masculine singular perfective form of оглянути.

That means it presents the action as completed: the doctor examined the palm and finished doing so.

Compare:

• оглянув = examined / looked over (completed action)
• оглядав = was examining / examined habitually / examined for some time (process, repeated action, or background description)

So in this sentence, оглянув suggests one completed examination.

The basic verb is оглянути.

It usually means:

• to examine
• to inspect
• to look over

In medical contexts, оглянути is very natural for examining a patient or a body part.

Related forms:

• оглянути = perfective
• оглядати = imperfective

So:

• Лікар оглянув долоню. = The doctor examined the palm.
• Лікар оглядав долоню. = The doctor was examining the palm / examined the palm for a while.

That ending shows the verb is in the past tense masculine singular.

In Ukrainian past tense, the verb agrees with the subject in gender and number:

• оглянув = masculine singular
• оглянула = feminine singular
• оглянуло = neuter singular
• оглянули = plural

So with лікар in the sense of a male doctor, оглянув is the expected form.

The most straightforward version would be:

• Лікарка оглянула долоню.

Here:

• лікарка = female doctor
• оглянула = feminine past tense

So the verb changes to match the gender of the subject.

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

So Лікар оглянув долоню can mean:

• The doctor examined the palm
• A doctor examined the palm

Which one is meant depends on the context.

English requires an article, but Ukrainian does not.

By itself, лікар simply means doctor.

Ukrainian leaves definiteness unstated unless context makes it clear. So лікар can correspond to:

• the doctor
• a doctor

In actual conversation, the situation usually makes it obvious which meaning is intended.

Yes. Ukrainian word order is fairly flexible because case endings help show grammatical roles.

The neutral order here is:

• Лікар оглянув долоню.

But other orders are possible, for example:

• Долоню оглянув лікар. = It was the doctor who examined the palm / The palm was examined by the doctor.
• Оглянув лікар долоню. = possible, but more marked or stylistic

Changing the order usually changes focus or emphasis, not the core meaning.

Not exactly.

Долоня means palm, specifically the inner surface of the hand.

So:

• долоня = palm
• рука = hand / arm, depending on context

This is an important vocabulary distinction, because English hand is broader than долоня.

No. It can be used more broadly for examining, inspecting, or looking over something.

For example, it can be used for:

• a doctor examining a patient
• someone inspecting a room
• looking over a document or object

But in a sentence like Лікар оглянув долоню, the medical meaning is very natural.

A simple approximate pronunciation for an English speaker is:

• LEE-kar oh-HLYA-noov doh-LO-nyu

A few helpful notes:

• лі sounds roughly like lee
• гл in оглянув is a consonant cluster; say it smoothly
• долоню ends with -nyu, not -nee-you

If you want to sound more natural, keep the stress here:

• лі́кар
• огля́нув
• доло́ню

No. Ukrainian often leaves subject pronouns unstated when they are unnecessary.

Here the subject is already expressed by the noun лікар, so no pronoun is needed.

Even without a noun, Ukrainian often omits pronouns if the verb form and context make the meaning clear. But in this sentence, лікар already gives you the subject directly.

Yes, absolutely.

Лікар оглянув долоню. is a fully natural, complete Ukrainian sentence:

• subject: лікар
• verb: оглянув
• object: долоню

Ukrainian often expresses meaning very compactly because noun endings and verb forms carry a lot of grammatical information.