"Мені не було весело вчора."

Translation: I did not have fun yesterday.

[GeneM.]

Why is було used here? Would it not be був/була depending on the gender of the speaker?

[ecelinoi]

Because it's literally "IT WAS not merry to me yesterday"

[GeneM.]

Я зараз розумію. Дякую!

[Carl_Ramrod]

What's the better translation for this sentence? (A) "I did not feel happy yesterday." (B) "I did not have fun yesterday." They seem like two separate notions in English--do they really map onto the same sentence in Ukrainian?

[sagitta145]

The correct one is "I did not have fun". Happy = щасливий ≠ веселий. Веселий is similar to the German "froh", it means you are cheerful, having fun.

[OleskaProk]

"I didn't have a good time yesterday" should be accepted

[ecelinoi]

And also "It wasn't funny for me yesterday"

[sagitta145]

fun ≠ funny

Fun -> веселий, весело

Funny -> смішний, смішно

[arihuta]

In case as an alternative, does "я не був веселий вчора" sound natural?

[sagitta145]

Yep it's accepted.