Лікар торкається лоба.

Because the verb торкатися normally takes the genitive case in Ukrainian.

• Dictionary form: лоб = forehead
• Genitive singular: лоба

So:

• Лікар торкається лоба. = The doctor touches/is touching the forehead.

This is one of those verb patterns you mostly just have to learn: торкатися + genitive.

Торкається is:

• 3rd person singular
• present tense
• from the verb торкатися

So it means:

• he/she touches
• he/she is touching

Here it agrees with лікар, which is singular, so the verb is singular too.

The ending -ся is a very common Ukrainian verb ending often called reflexive, but it does not always mean someone is literally doing something to themselves.

In торкатися, the -ся is simply part of the verb as it is normally used. So:

• торкатися = to touch
• торкається = touches / is touching

In this sentence, it does not mean the doctor touches himself/herself. It is just the normal form of the verb.

Ukrainian has no articles like English a or the.

So лікар can mean:

• a doctor
• the doctor

And лоба can mean:

• of a forehead
• of the forehead

Which one sounds natural in English depends on context. If the meaning shown to you is The doctor touches the forehead, that is a perfectly normal translation.

Yes.

The Ukrainian present tense often covers both:

• simple present: touches
• present continuous: is touching

So Лікар торкається лоба can mean either, depending on context.

Grammatically, лікар is a masculine noun. In many contexts, it can mean:

• a male doctor
• a doctor in a general sense

If you specifically want to say female doctor, Ukrainian also has лікарка.

So in isolation, лікар is masculine in form, but whether the real person is male or just being referred to with the general profession word depends on context.

Ukrainian often leaves that unstated if it is obvious from context.

So лоба here just means the forehead or someone’s forehead, and the listener usually understands whose forehead is meant from the situation.

If you wanted to be explicit, you could say things like:

• його лоба = his forehead
• її лоба = her forehead

But in a simple sentence like this, leaving it unspecified is very natural.

No, Ukrainian word order is fairly flexible.

Лікар торкається лоба is a neutral, natural order:

• subject + verb + object

But other orders are possible for emphasis, for example:

• Лоба торкається лікар.
• Торкається лоба лікар.

These can sound more marked or context-dependent. For a learner, Лікар торкається лоба is the best basic pattern to use.

The dictionary forms are:

• лікар = doctor
• торкатися = to touch
• лоб = forehead

In the sentence, two of them are changed:

• торкатися → торкається because it is present tense, 3rd person singular
• лоб → лоба because it is in the genitive singular after торкатися

A rough English-style guide is:

LEE-kar tor-KA-yet-sya LO-ba

A few helpful notes:

• і sounds like ee in see
• я in -ться / -ється contributes a ya-like sound
• ся is usually pronounced softly, roughly sya
• Ukrainian r is rolled or tapped more than in English

So the whole sentence is approximately:

LEE-kar tor-KA-yet-sya LO-ba

That is only an approximation, but it is a useful starting point.