Learn Hardcore Ukrainian: У неї болить горло, тому вона не говорить голосно. - Her throat hurts, so she does not speak loudly.

У неї болить горло is literally “At her, the throat hurts.”
English structure: She has a sore throat / Her throat hurts.
Ukrainian structure: У + [genitive pronoun] + [body part in nominative] + болить.

So:

У мене болить голова. – My head hurts.
У нього болить спина. – His back hurts.

You can say вона має біль у горлі, but it sounds medical/unnatural in everyday speech. The idiomatic pattern is у неї болить ….

What exactly does У неї mean, literally and grammatically?

Literally, у неї means “at her / with her.”

Grammatically:

у – a preposition meaning “at, in, with,” among other things.
неї – the genitive singular form of вона (she).

This у + genitive construction is very common in Ukrainian to express:

Possession / existence
- У мене є час. – I have time. (Literally: At me there is time.)
States, feelings, health
- У нас холодні руки. – Our hands are cold.
- У неї болить горло. – Her throat hurts.

So у неї marks the experiencer/possessor, not the grammatical subject.

Which word is the subject in У неї болить горло – вона or горло?

The grammatical subject is горло (throat).

Structure:

У неї – prepositional phrase (“at her”), not the subject.
болить – verb “hurts” (3rd person singular).
горло – noun “throat” in nominative case; this is the subject.

You can see this more clearly if you rearrange:

Горло у неї болить. – The throat (of hers) hurts.

The verb болить is singular because горло is singular and is the subject that controls agreement.

What case is неї, and why is that form used instead of вона or її?

Неї is genitive singular of вона (she).

Relevant forms of вона:

Nominative: вона – she
Genitive: неї – of her
Dative: їй – to her
Accusative: неї / її – her (object)
Locative: ній – (at) her
Instrumental: нею – (with) her

The preposition у in this “possession/experiencer” pattern takes the genitive:

у мене, у тебе, у нього, у неї, у нас, у вас, у них

So we say:

У неї болить горло. – Her throat hurts.
not
✗ Вона болить горло. (ungrammatical – “she hurts the throat”)
✗ У вона болить горло. (wrong case after у).

How does the verb болить work? When do you use болить vs болять?

The infinitive is боліти – “to hurt, to ache.”

In the sentence:

болить = 3rd person singular present (he/she/it hurts).

You choose болить or болять based on the thing that hurts:

Singular subject → болить
- У мене болить голова. – My head hurts.
- У неї болить горло. – Her throat hurts.
Plural subject → болять
- У мене болять зуби. – My teeth hurt.
- У нього болять ноги. – His legs hurt.

So always look at the body part: if it’s grammatically singular → болить; plural → болять.

What does тому mean here, and how is it different from тому що and бо?

In this sentence, тому means “therefore / so / for that reason”.

У неї болить горло, тому вона не говорить голосно.
= Her throat hurts, so she doesn’t speak loudly.

Differences:

тому – “therefore, because of that”
- Often connects two complete clauses and expresses result.
- Usually has a comma before it:
  - Було пізно, тому ми пішли додому. – It was late, so we went home.
тому що – “because”
- Introduces a reason clause, like English “because”:
  - Вона не говорить голосно, тому що в неї болить горло.
    – She doesn’t speak loudly because her throat hurts.
бо – also “because”
- Shorter, more colloquial:
  - Вона не говорить голосно, бо в неї болить горло.

So:

…, тому … – cause → result
…, бо / тому що … – result → cause

Why is there a comma before тому?

There is a comma because you have two independent clauses:

У неї болить горло – complete clause (subject горло
- verb болить).
вона не говорить голосно – another complete clause (subject вона
- verb говорить).

They are connected by тому (“therefore, so”), which functions like a conjunction or linking adverb. In Ukrainian, when two independent clauses are connected this way, you normally put a comma before тому:

Було холодно, тому ми залишилися вдома.
Він багато працює, тому швидко втомлюється.

What is the difference between говорить, каже, and розмовляє?

All three relate to speaking, but they are used differently:

говорить (from говорити) – to speak, to talk in general
- Focus on the act of speaking or the manner (loudly/quietly, fast/slow):
  - Вона не говорить голосно. – She doesn’t speak loudly.
  - Він говорить повільно. – He speaks slowly.
каже (from казати) – to say, to tell
- Focus on what someone says (specific words/message):
  - Вона каже, що їй болить горло. – She says that her throat hurts.
розмовляє (from розмовляти) – to converse, to have a conversation
- More about two-way communication or chatting:
  - Вони тихо розмовляють. – They are talking quietly (with each other).

In не говорить голосно, the focus is on the manner of speaking, so говорить is the natural choice.

Why is голосно used, and not голосний or something else?

Голосно is an adverb meaning “loudly.” It modifies the verb говорить (speaks).

говорить як? – голосно (speaks how? loudly).

Compare:

голосний – adjective “loud” (describes a noun):
- голосний звук – a loud sound
- голосна музика – loud music
голосно – adverb “loudly” (describes how something is done):
- говорити голосно – to speak loudly
- співати голосно – to sing loudly

So вона не говорить голосно = She does not speak loudly.

Could the word order be changed, for example: Вона не говорить голосно, бо у неї болить горло? Is that still correct?

Yes, that is correct, and it is very natural.

Some possible variants:

У неї болить горло, тому вона не говорить голосно.
– Her throat hurts, so she doesn’t speak loudly. (cause → result as in original)
Вона не говорить голосно, бо у неї болить горло.
– She doesn’t speak loudly because her throat hurts. (result → cause; using бо)
Вона не говорить голосно, тому що у неї болить горло.
– She doesn’t speak loudly because her throat hurts. (using тому що)
Горло у неї болить, тому вона не говорить голосно.
– The word order emphasizes горло.

Ukrainian word order is relatively flexible; you can rearrange elements to shift emphasis, as long as the grammar (cases, agreement, particles like бо/тому/тому що) is correct.

How would the sentence change for a male person instead of a female?

You only need to change the pronouns:

У нього болить горло, тому він не говорить голосно.
– His throat hurts, so he doesn’t speak loudly.

Changes:

у неї → у нього (at her → at him)
вона → він (she → he)

The rest (болить горло, тому … не говорить голосно) stays the same.