Мне пришлось заклеить рану пластырем.

Because пришлось is used in an impersonal construction.

In Russian, мне пришлось + infinitive literally works like it fell to me to..., but in natural English it means I had to.... The person affected is put in the dative case, so:

• мне пришлось = I had to
• тебе пришлось = you had to
• ему пришлось = he had to

So мне is not the subject in the usual sense; it marks the person who was forced by circumstances to do something.

Пришлось means something like had to, was forced to, or ended up having to.

It comes from the verb прийтись, which often expresses necessity caused by circumstances, not just personal choice.

So Мне пришлось заклеить рану пластырем suggests:

• it became necessary
• circumstances made it necessary
• I didn’t necessarily plan to do it, but I had to

This is a little different from simply stating an obligation.

Both can often translate as I had to, but the nuance is different.

• Мне пришлось заклеить рану пластырем
  = I had to put a plaster on the wound because the situation required it.

• Я должен был заклеить рану пластырем
  = I was supposed to / was obliged to put a plaster on the wound.

A simple way to remember it:

• пришлось = necessity from circumstances
• должен был = obligation, duty, expectation

So in this sentence, пришлось sounds very natural if the wound made immediate action necessary.

Because this is an impersonal construction.

Russian often uses neuter singular in impersonal expressions, even when the sentence refers to a real person. There is no normal grammatical subject here, so the verb appears in the default impersonal form:

• мне пришлось
• ему пришлось
• нам пришлось

It does not change to match the gender of the person. Even a woman would say:

• Мне пришлось заклеить рану пластырем.

Because заклеить is perfective, and here the sentence talks about a completed action.

• заклеить = to stick over / cover up with something adhesive, as a completed act
• заклеивать = to be sticking over / to cover over repeatedly or as a process

Since the idea is that the speaker had to do this one specific action and complete it, the perfective infinitive is the normal choice after пришлось.

So:

• Мне пришлось заклеить... = I had to stick it over / put a plaster on it

If you used заклеивать, it would sound more like process, repetition, or incompleteness, which does not fit as well here.

Because рана is the direct object of заклеить, so it goes into the accusative case.

Dictionary form:

• рана = wound

Accusative singular:

• рану

So:

• заклеить рану = to cover the wound with something adhesive

This is a regular accusative form for a feminine noun ending in -а.

Because it shows the means or instrument used to do the action.

Here the structure is:

• заклеить что? → рану
• чем? → пластырем

So пластырем means with a plaster / using a plaster.

This is a very common use of the instrumental case in Russian:

• резать ножом = cut with a knife
• писать карандашом = write with a pencil
• заклеить рану пластырем = cover the wound with a plaster

In this sentence, пластырь means a small adhesive covering for a cut or wound.

Depending on the variety of English:

• British English: plaster
• American English: band-aid or adhesive bandage

So пластырем here is best understood as with a plaster / with a band-aid.

Be aware that пластырь can also mean a medicinal patch in other contexts, but here the wound makes the meaning clear.

Yes, it is understandable and natural.

Literally, заклеить means to stick over or seal up with something adhesive, so with пластырем it gives the idea of putting a plaster over the wound.

Depending on context, Russian might also use related expressions such as:

• заклеить порез пластырем = put a plaster over a cut
• перевязать рану = bandage the wound
• обработать рану = treat the wound

So заклеить рану пластырем is specifically about covering it with an adhesive plaster, not just treating it in general.

Yes. Russian word order is flexible, and different orders change emphasis more than basic meaning.

The neutral order here is:

• Мне пришлось заклеить рану пластырем.

Other possible orders include:

• Рану мне пришлось заклеить пластырем.
• Пластырем мне пришлось заклеить рану.

These are all understandable, but they highlight different parts of the sentence.

The original version sounds neutral and natural:

• first the experiencer: мне пришлось
• then the action: заклеить
• then the object: рану
• then the means: пластырем

The usual stress pattern is:

• мне́
• пришло́сь
• закле́ить
• ра́ну
• пла́стырем

So the whole sentence is pronounced:

Мне́ пришло́сь закле́ить ра́ну пла́стырем.

Stress matters a lot in Russian, so it is worth learning these together with the words.

You can use that as a learning aid, but not as a real translation.

A more useful literal breakdown is:

• мне = to me
• пришлось = it became necessary / it fell to me
• заклеить = to stick over / cover up
• рану = the wound
• пластырем = with a plaster

That helps explain the grammar, but in natural English the sentence is simply:

• I had to put a plaster on the wound.
• or in American English: I had to put a band-aid on the wound.

So the Russian structure is different from English, even though the meaning is straightforward.