Breakdown of Вчера мне было страшно. Я выпил снотворное, а сегодня совсем не работается.
не
not
а
and (contrastive)
я
I
вчера
yesterday
быть
to be
сегодня
today
выпить
to drink (perfective)
мне
to me
страшно
scared / scary
совсем
completely, quite
снотворное
sleeping pill
работаться
to work (impersonal)
Questions & Answers about Вчера мне было страшно. Я выпил снотворное, а сегодня совсем не работается.
Why does the sentence use не работается instead of я не работаю?
This is the involuntary state construction you are currently learning. Я не работаю just states a fact: 'I am not working' (perhaps it is your day off). Не работается uses the reflexive form to mean 'I can't get any work done' or 'work just isn't going well.' It shows that you are trying to work, but your current groggy state is preventing it.
Where is the 'I' or 'me' for не работается? Shouldn't it be мне не работается?
You are exactly right; the full phrase is мне не работается. However, Russian often drops pronouns when they are already obvious from the context. Since the speaker already established they are talking about their own state with мне было страшно and я выпил, repeating мне at the end is completely optional.
Снотворное looks like a neuter adjective. How does it mean 'sleeping pill'?
In Russian, certain adjectives are commonly used as nouns, usually because the actual noun they described got dropped over time. Снотворное literally means 'sleep-inducing.' The implied noun is средство (remedy or medication), which is neuter. Over time, снотворное средство simply shortened to снотворное.
As a refresher, why is it мне было страшно instead of я был страшный?
When describing how someone physically or emotionally feels, Russian uses an impersonal construction. The person experiencing the feeling is in the Dative case (мне), followed by the neuter state word (страшно). To make it past tense, you simply add the neuter verb было. If you said я был страшный, using the nominative case and a normal adjective, it would mean 'I was terrifying' or 'I was ugly'!
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