У мене болить печінка.

Literally, у мене means at me or by me.

In this kind of sentence, though, it works idiomatically as I have or my. So:

• У мене болить печінка = My liver hurts
• more literally: At me, the liver hurts

This pattern is very common in Ukrainian when talking about possession, states, and body-part pain.

Because у requires the following pronoun to be in the genitive case.

So:

• я = I
• мене = of me / me (genitive or accusative form, depending on context)

After у/в, you say:

• у мене = at me / I have

English often uses my with body parts, but Ukrainian usually prefers this construction instead of a possessive adjective in neutral speech.

Because Ukrainian often does not use a possessive adjective when it is already clear whose body part is being discussed.

So instead of saying something like my liver hurts, Ukrainian naturally says:

• У мене болить печінка

A sentence with моя is possible, but it usually sounds more emphatic or contrastive, not the most neutral everyday wording.

There isn’t one, because Ukrainian has no articles.

So Ukrainian does not have direct equivalents of the and a/an. Whether something is definite or indefinite is understood from context.

Here, печінка simply means liver, but in context it is naturally understood as the liver / my liver.

Болить means hurts or aches.

Its dictionary form is боліти = to hurt / to ache.

So:

• болить печінка = the liver hurts
• болить голова = the head hurts
• болять ноги = the legs hurt

It is the standard verb used for physical pain.

Because печінка is singular.

The verb agrees with the thing that hurts:

• печінка = singular → болить
• нирки = plural → болять

For example:

• У мене болить печінка = My liver hurts
• У мене болять нирки = My kidneys hurt

Because печінка is the grammatical subject of the sentence.

In Ukrainian, the body part is often treated as the thing that is doing the hurting:

• печінка болить = the liver hurts

So печінка stays in the nominative.

It is not a direct object here, so you do not use the accusative.

Yes, it is grammatical, but it is less neutral.

• У мене болить печінка = the normal, natural way to report a symptom
• Моя печінка болить = more emphatic, contrastive, or stylistically marked

It can sound like you are stressing my liver specifically, perhaps in contrast with something else.

So for everyday speech, У мене болить печінка is the better choice.

Yes. У and в often alternate in Ukrainian for euphony—that is, to make pronunciation smoother.

So both are correct:

• У мене болить печінка
• В мене болить печінка

The meaning is the same. The choice often depends on surrounding sounds and speaking rhythm.

Yes, Ukrainian word order is fairly flexible.

The most neutral order here is:

• У мене болить печінка

But other orders are possible for emphasis, for example:

• Печінка у мене болить — emphasizes печінка
• У мене печінка болить — also possible, slightly different focus

Even when the order changes, the case endings and verb form help show what each word is doing.

The dictionary form is боліти.

Some useful forms:

• болить = hurts/aches (singular)
• болять = hurt/ache (plural)
• боліла = hurt/ached (feminine singular, past)
• боліли = hurt/ached (plural, past)

Examples:

• У мене болить печінка = My liver hurts
• У мене боліли нирки = My kidneys hurt / were hurting
• У мене боліла голова = My head hurt

A helpful stress marking is:

• У мене́ боли́ть печі́нка.

Approximate pronunciation for an English speaker:

• oo meh-NEH bo-LYT peh-CHEEN-ka

A few notes:

• ч sounds like ch in church
• ть at the end of болить is soft
• the stressed syllables are -не, -лить, and -чін-

It sounds like a symptom report, not necessarily a diagnosis.

So У мене болить печінка means the speaker says their liver hurts, but it does not automatically imply a formal medical diagnosis.

In real conversation, people also sometimes say something less specific if they are unsure, such as:

• У мене болить правий бік = My right side hurts

But your sentence itself is perfectly natural if the person means liver pain.