Questions & Answers about У мене болить скроня.
Why does Ukrainian say У мене... instead of using я for I?
Because Ukrainian often expresses physical states like pain with a structure that literally works more like At me ... hurts rather than I hurt ....
So in У мене болить скроня:
- у мене = at me / in my case
- болить = hurts
- скроня = temple
This is a very common Ukrainian pattern for things like pain, sensations, and possession:
- У мене болить голова = My head hurts
- У мене болять зуби = My teeth hurt
- У мене є брат = I have a brother
So even though English uses I or my, Ukrainian often uses у мене.
What case is мене, and why is it in that case?
Мене is the genitive form of я.
After у / в in this kind of possession-or-state structure, Ukrainian uses the genitive:
- я = I
- мене = of me / me (genitive or accusative form depending on context)
In У мене болить скроня, the phrase у мене is a fixed and very common way to mean something like I have or my ... in natural English.
So this is not random: it is part of a normal Ukrainian grammatical pattern.