Is 我很对不起你 a unique sentence structure? I'd never seen or heard this before until I recently watched a TV series and had to ask my wife to explain.

My initial guess was that it meant "I feel sorry for you" when in fact it means something like "I'm very sorry" (in the direction of the listener).

"I dislike you" which is I ...verb... you is correct English

But 我对不起你 seems like "I sorry you" which is I ...adjective... you which is incorrect English

So, have I got the wrong meaning of 对不起 (in this context), is there a verb meaning which I am missing or is this a sentence structure unique to Chinese?

Wiktionary has a listed under verb the following meanings:


  To cause someone embarrassment; to screw someone over; to do something
  to a person that would demand an apology later on


But I don't think "I caused you embarrassment" or "I screwed you over" is a very adequate translation of 我很对不起你.
I think the Chinese language has always been very consistent here. Consider the following:


我很对不起你。
我很讨厌你。
我很爱你。


The subject-verb-object sentence structure is very consistent. In English, the last two sentences can be translated directly with:


I hate you very much.
I love you very much.


The reason why the first sentence could not be translated directly is due to the lack of such a verb in English and not due to the peculiarity of the Chinese language.

The third meaning in the Wikitionary article you quoted captures more of the essence of this verb "对不起" than the first two:


  to do something to a person that would demand an apology later on


To elaborate, "我很对不起你" is not a statement of apology but a statement that you owe someone more than just an apology. This is logically so, because the subject would have easily apologised with a simple sorry (对不起) when speaking directly to the other party.

To extend this further, "你很对不起她" is another valid statement to mean you owe her more than just an apology. Example:


  她为了你付出了这么多，你却这样糟蹋她。你真的很对不起她。
  
  She has done so much for you, yet you treated her so badly. You really
  owe her more than just an apology.