Я хотел возразить, но мне стало неловко.

Хотел is the past tense of хотеть (to want).

In Russian past tense, the verb agrees with the subject in gender and number:

• я хотел = I wanted (male speaker)
• я хотела = I wanted (female speaker)
• мы хотели = we wanted

So я хотел tells you that the speaker is male. If the speaker were female, the sentence would be:

• Я хотела возразить, но мне стало неловко.

After хотеть (to want), Russian normally uses an infinitive to say what someone wanted to do:

• Я хотел возразить = I wanted to object
• Она хотела уйти = She wanted to leave
• Мы хотели спросить = We wanted to ask

This is very similar to English wanted to + verb.

This is an aspect question.

Russian verbs often come in pairs:

• возражать = imperfective
• возразить = perfective

Here, возразить is used because it refers to one complete act of objecting—basically, to make an objection / to say something in response.

So:

• хотел возразить = wanted to object / wanted to say something back

If you used возражать, it would sound more like a process, repeated action, or ongoing objection, which is less natural here.

Usually, no—or at least it strongly suggests that he intended to, but then did not.

Because the sentence continues:

• но мне стало неловко = but I suddenly felt awkward / embarrassed

So the whole sentence implies something like:

• I wanted to object, but then I felt awkward, so I didn’t.

Russian often leaves that last part unstated because it is easy to infer from the context.

Because Russian uses a different structure for many feelings and physical or mental states.

Instead of saying I became awkward, Russian says something more like:

• To me it became awkward
• мне стало неловко

This is a very common pattern:

• мне холодно = I am cold
• мне грустно = I am sad
• мне скучно = I am bored
• мне стало плохо = I started to feel bad

So мне is in the dative case, because the feeling/state is presented as something that happens to the person.

Because this is an impersonal construction.

In мне стало неловко, there is no normal personal subject like я. Russian treats this as a kind of general state:

• стало неловко = it became awkward / embarrassing

In impersonal past-tense constructions like this, Russian typically uses the neuter singular form:

• стало

That is why it is стало, not стал or стала.

Неловко can mean several related things depending on context:

• awkward
• embarrassed
• uneasy
• uncomfortable

In this sentence, it means the speaker suddenly felt awkward or embarrassed, probably socially or emotionally.

So мне стало неловко is often translated as:

• I felt awkward
• I suddenly felt embarrassed
• I became uncomfortable

It does not usually mean physically clumsy here, even though related words can have that meaning in other contexts.

Here неловко is not really functioning like a normal English adverb.

In Russian grammar, words like неловко, грустно, холодно, интересно are often treated as predicative words or category of state words. They are commonly used in sentences like:

• Мне неловко = I feel awkward
• Ему грустно = He is sad
• Нам интересно = We are interested

So in this sentence, неловко describes a state rather than modifying an action.

Because стало emphasizes a change of state.

• мне стало неловко = I became embarrassed / I suddenly felt awkward
• мне было неловко = I was embarrassed / I felt awkward

So:

• стало = the feeling arose
• было = the feeling simply was

In this sentence, the speaker first wanted to object, and then a new feeling appeared, so стало is the natural choice.

Но means but.

It introduces a contrast:

• Я хотел возразить = I wanted to object
• но мне стало неловко = but I felt awkward

So the second clause explains why the first intention was not carried out. It creates the same kind of contrast as English but.

Yes, Russian word order is fairly flexible, but different orders change the emphasis.

The neutral order here is:

• Я хотел возразить, но мне стало неловко.

You could also hear variations such as:

• Но мне стало неловко, и я хотел возразить.
  This changes the meaning/logic, so it is not equivalent.

Or:

• Я хотел возразить, но стало мне неловко.
  Grammatically possible in some contexts, but less neutral and more stylistic.

The original order is the most natural everyday version.

Yes—stress matters in Russian. The main stresses are:

• Я хоте́л возрази́ть, но мне́ ста́ло нело́вко.

A learner should especially notice:

• хоте́л
• возрази́ть
• мне́
• ста́ло
• нело́вко

Correct stress helps both understanding and sounding natural.

Yes, that is often a very natural translation.

Literally, Я хотел возразить is I wanted to object, but in context it can feel close to:

• I was going to object
• I meant to object
• I was about to say something in protest

That is because the sentence suggests an unrealized intention. So while wanted to object is accurate, a more natural English rendering may depend on context.