Мне было отвратительно.

Because this sentence uses an impersonal construction.

Russian often expresses feelings and states with:

• dative experiencer = the person who feels something
• a state word like отвратительно
• optionally было / будет for past or future

So мне было отвратительно is literally something like:

• To me, it was disgusting
• or more naturally, I felt disgusted

Here, мне does not mean the person is the grammatical subject in the same way as English I. It marks the person experiencing the feeling.

Было puts the sentence in the past tense.

In the present tense, Russian usually leaves out the verb to be:

• Мне отвратительно. = I feel disgusted / It’s disgusting to me.

In the past tense, you add the past form of быть:

• Мне было отвратительно. = I felt disgusted / It was disgusting to me.

In the future:

• Мне будет отвратительно. = I will feel disgusted.

So было is basically the past-tense marker here.

Because this is an impersonal sentence.

In Russian impersonal sentences, the past tense often appears in the neuter singular form:

• было

That happens because there is no real grammatical subject like он / она / они controlling agreement.

So even if the speaker is male or female, you still say:

• Мне было отвратительно.

The gender of the speaker does not affect было here.

Here отвратительно functions as a predicative word or word of state.

It comes from the adjective:

• отвратительный = disgusting, revolting

But in this sentence, отвратительно does not mean disgustingly in the adverb sense of modifying a verb. Instead, it means something like:

• disgusting
• awful
• revolting
• I feel disgusted

So in Мне было отвратительно, it is the main predicate expressing a state or feeling.

No. It means the opposite kind of idea.

• Мне было отвратительно = I felt disgusted / It was disgusting to me
• Я был отвратителен = I was disgusting / I was repulsive

That is a very important difference.

So:

• мне = to me, the experiencer
• я = I, the subject

If you use я был отвратителен, you are saying you were the disgusting one.

Not really in the normal sense. This is an impersonal sentence, so Russian does not need to name a subject.

The sentence just says that a certain state existed for me:

• Мне было отвратительно.

Context usually tells you what caused the disgust:

• something seen
• something heard
• a situation
• someone’s behavior
• a smell, taste, memory, etc.

So the cause can be understood from context, but grammatically the sentence itself does not need a subject.

Yes — and that would be the present tense.

Compare:

• Мне отвратительно. = I feel disgusted / I’m disgusted
• Мне было отвратительно. = I felt disgusted / I was disgusted

Russian usually does not use a present-tense form of to be in this kind of sentence.

So you would normally not say:

• Мне есть отвратительно ❌

Just:

• Мне отвратительно ✅

Yes, it is natural, though it can sound a bit strong and sometimes slightly bookish or emphatic depending on context.

It expresses strong disgust: moral, emotional, or physical.

A very common near-synonym is:

• Мне было противно.

That can often sound a bit more conversational in everyday speech.

Very roughly:

• отвратительно = disgusting, revolting, horrible
• противно = disgusting, gross, unpleasant

Both are common, but отвратительно often feels stronger.

It can describe both, depending on context.

For example, it may mean:

• physical disgust: bad smell, rotten food, something gross
• emotional or moral disgust: someone’s cruel or shameful behavior
• general revulsion: I felt utterly revolted

So Мне было отвратительно is broad and context-dependent.

Yes. Russian word order is flexible.

The neutral order is:

• Мне было отвратительно.

But other orders are possible for emphasis, for example:

• Отвратительно мне было.
• Было мне отвратительно.

These are more marked and usually depend on style, emotion, or what the speaker wants to emphasize.

For learners, Мне было отвратительно is the safest and most neutral version.

Yes, very often. This is a very common Russian pattern.

Examples:

• Мне было грустно. = I was sad.
• Мне было страшно. = I was scared.
• Мне было холодно. = I was cold.
• Мне было стыдно. = I was ashamed.
• Мне было обидно. = I felt hurt/offended.
• Мне было скучно. = I was bored.

So Мне было отвратительно fits a very common structure:

[dative person] + [было] + [state word]

That is why it is worth learning as a pattern, not just as one isolated sentence.