Лікар оглянув щиколотку.

Because щиколотку is the direct object of the verb оглянув. In Ukrainian, a feminine noun ending in -а usually changes to -у in the accusative singular.

So:

• щиколотка = nominative singular, dictionary form
• щиколотку = accusative singular, used for the thing being examined

This is a very common pattern:

• книга → книгу
• рука → руку
• щиколотка → щиколотку

Лікар is in the nominative singular, because it is the subject of the sentence: the person doing the action.

So the structure is:

• Лікар = subject, nominative
• оглянув = verb
• щиколотку = direct object, accusative

This is the most basic sentence pattern in Ukrainian, just like English subject + verb + object.

The base form is оглянути.

That is the infinitive, meaning to examine / to inspect / to look over.

In this sentence, оглянув is the past tense masculine singular form:

• оглянути = infinitive
• оглянув = he examined / examined

Other past forms would be:

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

This is about aspect, which is very important in Ukrainian.

• оглянув is perfective
• оглядав is imperfective

Here, оглянув presents the action as completed: the examination happened and was finished.

So Лікар оглянув щиколотку means the doctor examined the ankle as a completed event.

If you used оглядав, it would sound more like:

• was examining
• examined for a while
• or describe the action as a process rather than a finished result

For a simple one-time completed event, оглянув is the natural choice.

Yes. In the past tense singular, Ukrainian verbs show gender.

• оглянув = masculine
• оглянула = feminine

So this sentence grammatically points to a male doctor, or at least uses masculine agreement.

If the doctor were female, you would often see:

• Лікар оглянула щиколотку.
• or Лікарка оглянула щиколотку.

A useful thing to remember: even though лікар is a masculine noun in form, real-life gender can still be shown by the past-tense verb.

Because Ukrainian does not have articles.

So лікар can mean:

• a doctor
• the doctor

And щиколотку can mean:

• an ankle
• the ankle

Context tells you which meaning is intended.

This is normal in Ukrainian. Learners from English often expect an article, but Ukrainian simply does not use one.

No, Ukrainian word order is fairly flexible, although Лікар оглянув щиколотку is the most neutral order.

This version is straightforward:

• Лікар = topic/subject
• оглянув = action
• щиколотку = object

But you can change the order for emphasis. For example:

• Щиколотку оглянув лікар.
  This puts more focus on the ankle or contrasts the doctor with someone else.

So word order in Ukrainian often affects emphasis, not just grammar.

No preposition is needed here.

Оглянути takes a direct object in the accusative:

• оглянути пацієнта
• оглянути руку
• оглянути щиколотку

This is different from English verbs like look at, which need a preposition.

If you want the idea of simply looking at, Ukrainian often uses:

• дивитися на

But оглянути is stronger and more specific: it means to inspect, examine, or look over carefully, especially in a medical or professional context.

Two sounds often stand out to English speakers:

1. щ
In standard Ukrainian, щ is usually pronounced roughly like shch as one cluster, not like a simple English sh.

So щиколотку begins with something like:

• shchy-...

2. г
Ukrainian г is usually not a hard English g. It is closer to a voiced h-like sound.

So in оглянув, the г is not like the g in go.

If you want a hard g sound in Ukrainian, that is usually written with ґ, not г.

Yes, щиколотка is a normal standard word for ankle.

You may also hear кісточка in everyday speech, but that word literally means little bone and can refer more specifically to the ankle bone or be used colloquially for the ankle area.

So for a clear, standard word in a sentence like this, щиколотка works well.

Yes, that is a good way to understand it.

A simple grammatical breakdown is:

• Лікар = subject, nominative singular
• оглянув = past tense verb, masculine singular, perfective
• щиколотку = direct object, accusative singular

So for a beginner, this is an excellent example of a basic Ukrainian sentence with:

• a subject noun
• a completed past action
• a direct object in the accusative