Learn Hardcore Ukrainian: Тепер їй не боляче говорити, і голос знову тихий та приємний. - Now it does not hurt her to speak, and her voice is quiet and pleasant again.

So Тепер їй не боляче говорити literally is “Now (to) her it is not painful to speak”, i.e. Now it doesn’t hurt her to speak / it’s not painful for her to speak.

What exactly is боляче? Is it an adjective, adverb, or verb?

Боляче is a predicative word (in Ukrainian grammar often classified as a “category of state,” предикатив). It behaves a bit like an adverb but functions as the main predicate of the clause:

Мені боляче. – It hurts (me).
Їм було боляче. – It was painful for them.

So it isn’t a normal adjective (like болючий) and isn’t a normal verb (like боліти “to hurt”).
In this sentence, боляче + їй together express “she is not in pain.”

Why is it не боляче говорити and not something like не болить говорити?

Ukrainian normally uses two different patterns:

Impersonal predicative pattern (used here):
- Мені боляче (щось робити). – It hurts (for me) (to do something).
- Тепер їй не боляче говорити.
Personal verb pattern with боліти:
- У неї болить горло. – Her throat hurts. / She has a sore throat.

Болить говорити would sound wrong or unnatural. When talking about the action itself being painful, Ukrainian prefers the predicative word + infinitive:

Мені важко говорити. – It’s hard for me to speak.
Йому приємно з вами говорити. – It’s pleasant for him to talk with you.

So не боляче говорити is the idiomatic choice.

Could the word order be Їй тепер не боляче говорити instead of Тепер їй не боляче говорити?

Yes, you can say Їй тепер не боляче говорити, and it is still grammatically correct.

Word order in Ukrainian is relatively flexible and is often used to highlight different parts of the sentence:

Тепер їй не боляче говорити.
– Emphasis slightly on the change in time: Now it doesn’t hurt her to speak (as opposed to before).
Їй тепер не боляче говорити.
– Emphasis more on her: She now doesn’t feel pain when speaking.

Both are fine; the original is a natural choice and sounds neutral.

Why is there no word like є (“is”) before голос?

In the present tense, Ukrainian usually omits the verb “to be” (бути) when it functions as a simple copula “is/are”:

Голос тихий. – literally “Voice quiet (is).”
Вона лікар. – She (is a) doctor.

So the full underlying structure would be something like:

…і (є) голос знову тихий та приємний.
→ “…and (her) voice is quiet and pleasant again.”

Leaving out є here is completely normal and standard.

Why is it тихий and приємний, not тихо and приємно?

Тихий and приємний are adjectives describing the noun голос (voice).

Голос (який?) тихий, приємний. – The voice (what kind?) is quiet, pleasant.

If you used тихо or приємно, those are adverbs or predicatives, and you’d get a different structure/meaning, like:

Голос звучить тихо. – The voice sounds quietly/softly.
Мені приємно. – It is pleasant for me; I feel pleasure.

Here, we’re saying what kind of voice it is, so we need adjectives: тихий, приємний (masculine singular nominative to match голос).

Why are both adjectives тихий та приємний in the masculine singular?

Because they both agree with голос, which is:

голос – masculine, singular, nominative case.

Adjectives in Ukrainian must match the noun in gender, number, and case:

тихий голос – quiet voice
приємний голос – pleasant voice

In a sentence:

Голос тихий та приємний. – The voice is quiet and pleasant.

So both тихий and приємний must be masculine singular nominative.

What is the difference between і and та, and why is та used here?

Both і and та generally mean “and” and are often interchangeable.

Nuances:

І is the most common neutral conjunction “and.”
Та can sound a bit more literary, stylistic, or softer, and it’s often used to avoid repetition of і, or just for rhythm.

In “…голос знову тихий та приємний”, та joins two adjectives тихий and приємний. Using та instead of і here sounds smooth and slightly more stylistic, but тихий і приємний would also be correct.

What is the function of говорити here? Why is it in the infinitive?

Говорити is the infinitive “to speak / to talk.”

In the structure комусь боляче / важко / легко / приємно + infinitive, the infinitive expresses the action connected with the feeling or state:

Мені важко говорити. – It’s hard for me to speak.
Йому приємно працювати. – It’s pleasant for him to work.
Тепер їй не боляче говорити. – Now it doesn’t hurt her to speak.

So говорити simply tells us what is (not) painful: the act of speaking.

What’s the difference between тепер and зараз? Could we use зараз here?

Both can be translated as “now,” but:

Тепер – often focuses on “now, as opposed to before”, highlighting a change in situation or time frame.
Зараз – usually means “now, at this moment / right now”, more immediate.

In this sentence:

Тепер їй не боляче говорити… emphasizes the change: Before it hurt, now it doesn’t.

You could say Зараз їй не боляче говорити, and it would be understood as Right now it doesn’t hurt her to speak, but тепер fits very well if the context is about a recovery or improvement over time.

Why is there a comma before і in …, і голос знову тихий та приємний?

Because the sentence consists of two independent clauses joined by і:

Тепер їй не боляче говорити – complete clause (it has its own predicate: боляче).
(Є) голос знову тихий та приємний – another complete clause (predicate: тихий та приємний).

In Ukrainian, when і connects two independent clauses, a comma is normally used before it:

Вона усміхається, і їй легко говорити.
Тепер їй не боляче говорити, і голос знову тихий та приємний.

So the comma is required here by standard punctuation rules.