Не то чтобы свинина была плохой, но мне говядина нравится больше.

It is an idiomatic way to soften a statement. In this sentence, Не то чтобы свинина была плохой... means something like:

• It’s not that pork is bad...
• Not exactly that pork is bad...
• It’s not as if pork were bad...

The speaker is being careful: they are not criticizing pork directly, just saying they personally prefer beef.

This structure is very common when you want to deny an extreme interpretation before giving your real opinion.

Не то чтобы is a fixed expression with its own meaning: it’s not that... / not as if...

It should be learned as a chunk.

Compare:

• Не то чтобы он глупый, но неопытный.
  It’s not that he’s stupid, just inexperienced.

This is different from other combinations involving то and что, which may literally mean that which or work in other sentence patterns.

So in your sentence, Не то чтобы is best treated as one idiomatic connector.

This is a very common thing in Russian.

In constructions with чтобы / не то чтобы, Russian often uses the past-tense form of the verb, even when the meaning is not actually past. This is because the construction has a kind of subjunctive / hypothetical / non-literal feel.

So:

• Не то чтобы свинина была плохой...

does not mean pork used to be bad.
It means it’s not that pork is bad.

Russian uses the past form here because the language builds this kind of irrealis meaning with forms historically connected to the past + бы.

Because the бы is already inside чтобы.

Historically and grammatically, чтобы contains the particle бы, so you do not need another one here.

That is why Russian says:

• Не то чтобы свинина была плохой

not

• Не то чтобы свинина была бы плохой
  in standard usage here.

So the subjunctive-like meaning is already built into чтобы + past-form verb.

Because the subject is свинина, and свинина is a feminine singular noun.

Past tense in Russian agrees with gender and number:

• он был
• она была
• оно было
• они были

So:

• свинина была
• говядина была

because both свинина and говядина are feminine nouns.

Because after быть in this kind of predicate, Russian very often uses the instrumental case for the adjective.

So:

• свинина была плохой

literally uses instrumental on плохой.

This is normal after forms of быть when describing what something was/is as a state or quality.

Compare:

• Он был врачом. — He was a doctor.
• Она была счастливой. — She was happy.
• Свинина была плохой. — The pork was bad.

You may sometimes hear nominative adjectives in some contexts, especially in more colloquial or specific contrasts, but плохой here is the standard, expected form.

Yes, you may hear that in speech, and it can sound natural in conversational Russian. But it is a bit different in structure and feel.

The version in your sentence:

• Не то чтобы свинина была плохой

is a very standard and polished way to express this idea.

Using плохая instead may sound more direct or conversational, but the original version is the safest one to learn and imitate.

Because свинина and говядина mean the meat, while свинья and корова mean the animals.

• свинья = pig
• свинина = pork
• корова = cow
• говядина = beef

English also often uses different words for the animal and the meat, so this idea should feel familiar.

In this sentence we are talking about food, so the meat words are needed.

Both are possible, but they are slightly different in structure and tone.

мне говядина нравится

Literally: beef is pleasing to me
Natural meaning: I like beef

This uses the verb нравиться, which works like this:

• мне нравится X = I like X
• literally: X pleases me

So:

• мне = to me
• говядина = beef
• нравится = is pleasing / appeals

я люблю говядину

This means I love beef or I like beef depending on context, but любить is often stronger or more direct.

In a sentence about preference between two foods, нравится больше is very natural:

• мне говядина нравится больше = I like beef more

Because нравиться requires the experiencer in the dative.

The pattern is:

• мне нравится = I like
• тебе нравится = you like
• ему нравится = he likes
• нам нравится = we like

So in:

• мне говядина нравится больше

the person who experiences the liking is мне = to me.

This is one of the most important patterns to master with нравиться.

Because the grammatical subject is говядина, which is singular.

With нравиться, the thing liked is the grammatical subject:

• Мне нравится говядина. — I like beef.
• Мне нравятся овощи. — I like vegetables.

So:

• singular noun → нравится
• plural noun → нравятся

Since говядина is singular, we get нравится.

It means more, and here the comparison is with pork, even though that second term is not repeated.

So:

• мне говядина нравится больше

means:

• I like beef more
• more than pork

Russian often leaves the comparison target implied when it is obvious from context.

If you wanted to make it fully explicit, you could say:

• мне говядина нравится больше, чем свинина

But in your sentence, that is unnecessary because the contrast has already been set up.

Because больше focuses on degree of liking:

• говядина нравится больше = beef is liked more

That means I prefer beef.

If you used лучше, the meaning might shift toward better in a more evaluative sense, not just more liked.

So here больше is the most natural word because the sentence is about personal preference, not an objective judgment that beef is better.

Yes, Russian word order is flexible.

Your sentence puts мне early, which gives a natural as for me / personally feeling:

• но мне говядина нравится больше

Other possible orders include:

• но говядина мне нравится больше
• но больше мне нравится говядина

These are all possible, but the emphasis changes slightly.

In your version:

• мне is highlighted early
• it sounds like but as for me, I prefer beef

This is a very natural word order in conversation.

Но means but and introduces the real point of the sentence.

The structure is:

1. soften or deny a stronger negative claim
   Не то чтобы свинина была плохой...
2. give the actual preference
   но мне говядина нравится больше.

So the overall effect is:

• I’m not saying pork is bad, but I personally like beef more.

This is a very common conversational strategy in both Russian and English.

It is mostly neutral conversational Russian.

• Не то чтобы... is common in everyday speech and writing.
• It sounds natural and idiomatic.
• It is not slangy.
• It is not especially formal either.

So this is a very useful pattern to learn because native speakers use it often when expressing nuanced opinions politely.

Both are in the nominative singular here.

In the first clause:

• свинина is the subject of была

In the second clause:

• говядина is the grammatical subject of нравится

That second one can be confusing for English speakers, because in English we think I like beef, where I is the subject. But in Russian with нравиться, the thing liked is the subject:

• говядина нравится
• literally: beef pleases

So both meat nouns are nominative.

Yes, absolutely.

That is a very natural English translation of the whole sentence.

Even though the Russian literally says something closer to:

• It’s not that pork is bad, but I like beef more

the natural overall meaning is:

• I prefer beef to pork

The Russian version just sounds a bit softer and more tactful because it first says that pork is not bad.