Лікар оглянув артерію.

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

Артерію is in the accusative singular because it is the direct object — the thing being examined.

So the structure is:

• лікар = doctor, as the subject
• оглянув = examined
• артерію = artery, as the object

This is a very standard Ukrainian sentence pattern: subject + verb + direct object.

Because артерія is the dictionary form (nominative singular), but after a transitive verb like оглянув, Ukrainian usually puts the direct object into the accusative case.

For a feminine noun ending in -ія, the accusative singular changes like this:

• артерія → артерію

So:

• артерія = artery
• оглянув артерію = examined the artery

This is a very common pattern:

• лінія → лінію
• історія → історію
• артерія → артерію

In this sentence, оглянув means something like:

• examined
• inspected
• looked over

In a medical context, examined is usually the most natural English equivalent.

The verb comes from оглянути, which often suggests a completed check or examination.

So in this sentence, the doctor did the examination and finished it.

Quite a lot. Оглянув tells you that the verb is:

• past tense
• singular
• masculine
• perfective

So оглянув matches a masculine singular subject, such as лікар if understood as male.

Compare:

• оглянув = he examined / a male person examined
• оглянула = she examined / a female person examined
• оглянули = they examined

This is one reason Ukrainian past tense often gives more information than English past tense.

Оглянув is perfective, which means the action is presented as completed.

So Лікар оглянув артерію means the doctor examined the artery and finished doing so.

The imperfective partner is оглядав:

• Лікар оглянув артерію = The doctor examined the artery.
  Completed action.

• Лікар оглядав артерію = The doctor was examining the artery / examined the artery repeatedly or as a process.
  Ongoing, repeated, or process-focused action.

This perfective vs. imperfective contrast is one of the most important features of Ukrainian verbs.

Yes. Лікар is the standard word for doctor and can refer to a doctor in general.

Traditionally, лікар is grammatically masculine, but in real usage it can refer to either a male or female doctor depending on context.

If you want to make it clearly female, you may also see:

• лікарка = female doctor

For example:

• Лікарка оглянула артерію.

You may also hear feminine verb agreement with a female referent in some contexts, but for learners, the clearest pair is:

• лікар = doctor
• лікарка = female doctor

Because Ukrainian has no articles.

So Лікар оглянув артерію can mean:

• The doctor examined the artery
• A doctor examined an artery

Which meaning is intended depends on the context.

English speakers often look for a separate word corresponding to the or a, but Ukrainian normally does not use one.

Yes. Ukrainian word order is more flexible than English word order because case endings show who is doing what.

The neutral order here is:

• Лікар оглянув артерію.

But you could also say:

• Артерію оглянув лікар.

That still means The doctor examined the artery, but now the focus is more on артерію or on who examined it.

So:

• Лікар оглянув артерію = neutral statement
• Артерію оглянув лікар = emphasis or contrast

English relies heavily on word order; Ukrainian often uses case endings + word order together to show meaning and emphasis.

A useful pronunciation guide is:

Лі́кар огляну́в арте́рію

Roughly:

LI-kar oh-hlya-NUV ar-TE-ri-yu

A few notes:

• г in Ukrainian is usually like a voiced h, not a hard English g
• ю at the end sounds like yu
• л before і is softer than English l

You do not need to pronounce it exactly like the rough English guide, but the stress pattern is important.

There is no separate he here because the sentence already has the subject noun: лікар.

So Ukrainian does not need:

• Він лікар оглянув артерію — this would be unnatural here

The subject is already clear:

• Лікар оглянув артерію.

Also, Ukrainian often omits pronouns when the meaning is clear from context.

For example, if everyone already knows you are talking about the doctor, you might even hear:

• Оглянув артерію.

That would mean [He] examined the artery, with the masculine past tense helping to identify the subject.

No. Оглянути / оглянув is broader than just medicine.

It can mean to:

• examine
• inspect
• look over
• check

For example, it can be used for:

• a patient
• a wound
• a room
• a building
• luggage
• a document

In this sentence, because the object is артерію, the medical sense is obvious, so examined is the best English rendering.