После разговора мне пришлось признать, что я был неправ.

After the conversation, I had to acknowledge that I was wrong.

Breakdown of После разговора мне пришлось признать, что я был неправ.

• я: I
• быть: to be
• что: that
• после: after

Questions & Answers about После разговора мне пришлось признать, что я был неправ.

Why is it после разговора, not после разговор?

Because после requires the genitive case.

• разговор = conversation (dictionary form, nominative)
• разговора = genitive singular

So:

• после разговора = after the conversation

This is a very common pattern in Russian:

• после урока = after the lesson
• после работы = after work
• после встречи = after the meeting

So the ending -а here is not random; it shows the noun is in the genitive after после.

What does мне пришлось literally mean, and why is мне in the dative?

Мне пришлось means something like I had to or it turned out that I had to.

Literally, the construction is impersonal. Russian often expresses necessity this way:

• мне пришлось = to me, it became necessary / fell to me
• natural English: I had to

The pronoun is in the dative because the experience or necessity is happening to the person:

• мне пришлось = I had to
• ему пришлось = he had to
• нам пришлось = we had to

This is a very common structure in Russian.