У мене болить стопа.

I

Breakdown of У мене болить стопа.

• у: in
• боліти: to hurt
• стопа: the foot

Questions & Answers about У мене болить стопа.

Why does Ukrainian say у мене instead of using a word for my?

Because Ukrainian often expresses this kind of idea with a structure that is literally closer to at me hurts foot than to my foot hurts.

So:

• У мене болить стопа = the natural way to say that your foot hurts
• у мене means something like at me / with me
• the body part itself, стопа, is the thing that hurts

This pattern is very common with pain:

• У мене болить голова = My head hurts
• У мене болить зуб = My tooth hurts
• У мене болять очі = My eyes hurt

English uses a possessive adjective; Ukrainian very often uses this у мене pattern instead.

What case is мене in у мене?

Мене is in the genitive case.

That is because the preposition у / в requires the genitive in this expression:

• я = I
• мене = me / of me in certain case forms

So у мене is a fixed, very common phrase meaning at my place / with me / I have depending on context.

Why is стопа in the nominative case?