Мне страшно идти по незнакомой улице ночью.

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Breakdown of Мне страшно идти по незнакомой улице ночью.

• улица: the street
• по: along
• идти: to walk

Questions & Answers about Мне страшно идти по незнакомой улице ночью.

Why is it мне страшно, not something with я?

Russian often expresses physical or emotional states with an impersonal construction:

[person in the dative] + [state word]

So мне страшно literally means something like to me, it is scary, but the natural English meaning is I am scared.

This is the same pattern as:

• Мне холодно = I am cold
• Ему грустно = He is sad
• Нам трудно = It is hard for us

So мне is in the dative case because it marks the person experiencing the feeling.

What does страшно mean here exactly?

Here страшно means scary or frightening, but in this pattern it is best understood as I feel scared.

In this sentence, страшно is not the adverb meaning terribly or awfully. It is a state word used as the main predicate of the sentence.

So:

• Мне страшно = I am scared
• not I am scary

If you said я страшный about a man or я страшная about a woman, that would mean I am scary / I look terrible, which is completely different.