Breakdown of Мне удалось попасть на выставку бесплатно.
я
I
выставка
the exhibition
бесплатно
for free
на
into
Questions & Answers about Мне удалось попасть на выставку бесплатно.
Why is it мне удалось, not я удалось or я смог?
Because удаться / удалось uses a different construction from English.
In this sentence, мне is in the dative case and marks the person to whom the success happened:
- мне удалось = I managed / I succeeded
- literally, something like to me, it succeeded
This verb is often used in an impersonal way, so Russian does not use я as the grammatical subject here.
Compare:
- Я смог попасть на выставку = I was able to get to the exhibition
- Мне удалось попасть на выставку = I managed to get to the exhibition, often with a sense that it was not easy, or that it worked out successfully
So мне удалось is a very natural pattern, even though it feels unusual from an English point of view.
What exactly does удалось mean here?