Learn Hardcore Ukrainian: Коли болить горло, я п’ю гаряче молоко.

Literally, болить горло is closer to “hurts the throat” or “the throat hurts”. Ukrainian often uses this kind of structure without an explicit subject (no it like in English). The throat itself is understood as the thing that is hurting, so no extra pronoun is needed.

So:

Болить горло. – The throat hurts / My throat hurts.
There is no it in Ukrainian here; the verb form already implies something (3rd person) hurts.

Why isn’t there a word for “my” in болить горло? Shouldn’t it be моє горло?

In Ukrainian, body parts and close personal belongings often appear without a possessive pronoun when the owner is obvious from context.

So болить горло naturally means my throat hurts, as long as we’re talking about the speaker. Adding моє is grammatically correct, but usually only done if you need to emphasize whose throat it is:

Болить горло. – My throat hurts. (normal, neutral)
Моє горло болить, а не його. – It’s my throat that hurts, not his. (emphasis/contrast)

What case is горло in, and why is it used that way with болить?

Горло is in the nominative case (the basic dictionary form).

The verb боліти in the sense of “to ache / to hurt” typically takes the thing that hurts in the nominative:

Болить голова. – The head hurts. / I have a headache.
Болять зуби. – The teeth hurt.
Болить горло. – The throat hurts.

So горло is treated as the grammatical subject of болить, even though in English we say “my throat hurts” or “I have a sore throat”.

Why is it Коли болить горло, я п’ю… and not Коли горло болить…? Is that word order fixed?

Both word orders are possible:

Коли болить горло, я п’ю гаряче молоко.
Коли горло болить, я п’ю гаряче молоко.

The first one (verb first) is a bit more neutral and common in this impersonal-like expression. The second one (noun first) can sound a bit more colloquial or slightly more emphatic on горло, but it’s still natural.

In general, Ukrainian word order is flexible; both orders are correct here. The main thing is that болить agrees with горло (3rd person singular).

The English meaning is “When my throat hurts, I drink hot milk.” Why is Ukrainian in simple present tense instead of something like “whenever it hurts”?

Ukrainian often uses the simple present with коли to express repeated or habitual actions, just like English:

Коли болить горло, я п’ю гаряче молоко.
– Whenever / When my throat hurts, I drink hot milk.

There is no special separate tense for “whenever”. Context (a general statement, not one-time) makes it clear that the meaning is habitual.

Can I change the order to Я п’ю гаряче молоко, коли болить горло?

Yes, absolutely. Both are correct:

Коли болить горло, я п’ю гаряче молоко.
Я п’ю гаряче молоко, коли болить горло.

The meaning is the same. Starting with коли болить горло puts more focus on the condition first. Starting with я п’ю… feels more like you’re talking about your usual reaction or habit. In everyday speech, both word orders are very natural.

Why is it гаряче молоко and not гарячий молоко?

Adjectives in Ukrainian agree with the gender, number, and case of the noun.

Молоко is neuter singular (it ends in -о and is neuter).
The neuter nominative singular form of гарячий (hot) is гаряче.

So:

гарячий чай (masc.) – hot tea
гаряча вода (fem.) – hot water
гаряче молоко (neuter) – hot milk

That’s why гаряче молоко is the correct combination.

What is the apostrophe in п’ю, and how is п’ю pronounced?

The apostrophe ’ in Ukrainian shows that the following я, ю, є, ї begin with a “y”-sound and do not merge with the preceding consonant.

п’ю is pronounced roughly like [p-yu], similar to English “pyoo”.
Without the apostrophe, пю would suggest a softened п plus у (but пю doesn’t actually occur as a normal syllable in modern standard Ukrainian; the apostrophe is the correct spelling here).

So п’ю corresponds to I drink, present tense, 1st person singular of пити.

Ukrainian says гаряче молоко without any article. Is that like “some hot milk” in English?

Yes. Ukrainian has no articles (no a/an/the). The bare noun молоко can correspond to several English options, depending on context:

гаряче молоко can be:
- hot milk, or
- some hot milk, or
- the hot milk (if specific from context).

Here, as a general statement about what you usually drink, English most naturally uses “hot milk” or “some hot milk”, but Ukrainian doesn’t need to mark that difference.

Can I drop я and say Коли болить горло, п’ю гаряче молоко?

Yes, you can. Ukrainian often omits the subject pronoun if the verb ending already makes the subject clear:

Я п’ю гаряче молоко. – I drink hot milk.
П’ю гаряче молоко. – (I) drink hot milk.

In context, it will still be understood as I drink. Including я is slightly more explicit; omitting it sounds natural and a bit more compact, especially in spoken language.

Where is the stress in each word: Коли болить горло, я п’ю гаряче молоко?

Approximate stresses (marked with bold on the stressed syllable):

Ко́ли – KO-ly
боли́ть – bo-LYT’
го́рло – HOR-lo
я – (only one syllable)
п’ю – (one syllable, the whole word is stressed)
гаря́че – har-YA-che
молоко́ – mo-lo-KO

So spoken rhythmically: Ко́ли бо-ли́ть го́р-ло, я п’ю гар-я́-че мо-ло-ко́.