Лікар оглянув п’яту.

Because it is the direct object of the verb оглянув (examined), so it goes into the accusative case.

• Dictionary form: п’ята
• Accusative singular: п’яту

This is a very common pattern for feminine nouns ending in -а:

• книга → книгу
• рука → руку
• п’ята → п’яту

So п’яту shows what the doctor examined.

Лікар is in the nominative singular, because it is the subject of the sentence — the one doing the action.

So the basic structure is:

• Лікар = subject
• оглянув = verb
• п’яту = direct object

This is a very normal Ukrainian sentence pattern.

In the past tense, Ukrainian verbs agree with the subject in gender and number.

So:

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

Since the sentence has оглянув, it tells you the doctor is male.

If the doctor were female, you would say:

• Лікар оглянула п’яту.

The dictionary form is оглянути.

So:

• оглянути = infinitive
• оглянув = past tense, masculine singular

This verb is perfective, which means it presents the action as completed: the doctor examined/checked the heel.

Оглянути means something like to examine, inspect, look over. It is more natural for a doctor than just дивитися (to look).

Compare:

• дивився на п’яту = was looking at the heel
• оглянув п’яту = examined the heel

So оглянув suggests a proper check or medical examination, not just seeing it.

The apostrophe shows that the consonant before it is not softened and that the following я keeps its y sound.

So п’я is pronounced roughly like pya, not like a softened pa.

This is a standard spelling feature in Ukrainian after certain consonants, especially labials like п, б, в, м, ф.

So:

• п’ята ≈ pyata
• not a soft пя in the Russian-style sense

A rough pronunciation guide is:

LÍ-kar oh-LYA-nuv PYA-tu

More closely:

• Лікар = LÍ-kar
• оглянув = oh-LYA-nuv
• п’яту = PYA-tu

Stress:

• Лі́кар
• огля́нув
• п’я́ту

Ukrainian has no articles like a or the.

So Лікар оглянув п’яту can correspond to English with an article, but Ukrainian simply does not express that in the same way.

Whether something is understood as a heel, the heel, a doctor, or the doctor depends on:

• context
• word order
• general meaning of the situation

Yes. Ukrainian word order is more flexible than English.

Лікар оглянув п’яту is the most neutral order: subject + verb + object.

But other orders are possible for emphasis, for example:

• П’яту оглянув лікар.
  Emphasis on the heel

• Оглянув лікар п’яту.
  More marked or literary

The endings help show who is doing what, so word order does not carry as much grammatical burden as it does in English.

Yes, in isolation п’яту can also be the feminine accusative form of п’ятий (fifth), meaning the fifth one in some contexts.

For example, in another sentence, п’яту might mean the fifth.

But here, because of the meaning already given and the sentence context, it is understood as the noun п’ята (heel).

So this is one of those cases where context matters.

A common imperfective counterpart is оглядати.

Compare:

• Лікар оглянув п’яту.
  completed action; the doctor examined the heel

• Лікар оглядав п’яту.
  ongoing/repeated/background action; the doctor was examining the heel

This is a very important Ukrainian contrast:

• perfective = completed whole action
• imperfective = process, repetition, or ongoing action

Лікар specifically means doctor / physician.

It does not normally mean:

• nurse = медсестра / медбрат
• paramedic
• medical worker in general

So in this sentence, лікар clearly refers to a doctor.