Я хотел возразить, но её позиция показалась мне очень понятной.

Because the speaker is describing a past moment: I wanted to object / I was going to object.

In Russian, хотел + infinitive often means more than simple desire. In context, it can suggest an intention that was not carried out:

• Я хотел возразить, но... = I wanted to object, but...
• very naturally, I was about to object, but...

So the past tense fits the narrative: first the speaker had the impulse to object, then something changed.

Because Russian past-tense verbs in the singular agree with the speaker’s gender.

• я хотел = a male speaker
• я хотела = a female speaker

So this sentence, as written, sounds like it is being said by a man. If a woman were saying the same thing, it would be:

Я хотела возразить, но её позиция показалась мне очень понятной.

Возразить is perfective, and here it suggests a single objection or one intended reply.

So:

• хотел возразить = wanted to make an objection / wanted to say something in response
• хотел возражать would sound more like wanted to keep objecting / wanted to argue, which is less natural here

In this sentence, the speaker was about to make one specific counterpoint, but then changed their mind.

It means seemed to me or struck me as.

The verb is показаться, which often means:

• to seem
• to appear
• to strike someone as

So:

• её позиция показалась мне очень понятной
  = her position seemed very clear to me = I found her position very understandable

It is a very common Russian way to express personal impression.

Because мне is the dative case, and with казаться / показаться Russian uses the dative for the person who experiences the impression.

Literally, the structure is:

• X seemed to me

So:

• её позиция = the thing that seemed
• мне = to me

This is different from English, where we often make I the subject:

• I found her position clear
• Her position seemed clear to me

Russian prefers the second type of structure here.

Because after казаться / показаться, the descriptive word is commonly put in the instrumental case.

So:

• позиция показалась понятной
• not позиция показалась понятная

Here понятной is:

• feminine
• singular
• instrumental

It agrees with позиция, which is feminine singular.

This is a very common pattern in Russian:

• Он показался мне странным. = He seemed strange to me.
• Идея кажется интересной. = The idea seems interesting.

Because it is the instrumental singular feminine form of понятная.

The adjective has to agree with позиция:

• позиция = feminine singular
• therefore понятной = feminine singular instrumental

So the ending is not random; it shows both agreement and case.

Because позиция is the subject of the verb показалась.

The sentence is structured like this:

• её позиция = her position
• показалась = seemed
• мне = to me
• очень понятной = very clear / understandable

So позиция is doing the action of seeming, which is why it stays in the nominative.

Here её means her in the possessive sense: her position.

Before a noun, её acts like a possessive word and does not change form:

• её позиция = her position
• с её позицией = with her position
• о её позиции = about her position

Notice that позиция changes, but её stays the same.

So even though позиция is nominative here, её itself does not change to match it.

No. Russian word order is flexible, and different orders can change emphasis.

The given version is natural and neutral:

Я хотел возразить, но её позиция показалась мне очень понятной.

Possible variations include:

• Я хотел возразить, но мне её позиция показалась очень понятной.
• Но её позиция показалась мне очень понятной.

The basic meaning stays the same, but the focus shifts a little. The original version feels smooth and standard: first the intention to object, then the reason that stopped it.

Because но means but and connects two separate clauses:

• Я хотел возразить
• её позиция показалась мне очень понятной

Each clause has its own verb:

• хотел
• показалась

In Russian, when но joins two independent clauses, a comma is normally required.

Yes. In many Russian texts, ё is often written as е.

So both of these may appear:

• её позиция
• ее позиция

They mean the same thing. However, writing ё is helpful for learners because it shows the pronunciation more clearly.

Here the word is pronounced её, not ее with a plain е sound.