Mér finnst sanngjarnt að báðar fái tíma til að tala, því sanngirni skiptir máli í góðu samtali.

Because finnast works differently from English think. In this expression, the person who has the opinion goes in the dative, so mér means to me.

So mér finnst is literally closer to it seems/feels to me than to I think.

That is why you do not say ég finnst here.

Here mér finnst means something like:

• I think
• I feel
• it seems to me

In this sentence, it gives a personal judgment: I think it is fair...

It is often used when giving an opinion about whether something is good, fair, strange, important, and so on.

Because báðar is not the subject of finnst.

The structure is:

• Mér finnst sanngjarnt = I think it is fair
• að báðar fái tíma til að tala = that both get time to talk

So finnst is singular because it refers to the whole idea or clause that follows, not to báðar.

Sanngjarnt is the neuter singular form of sanngjarn.

Icelandic often uses the neuter singular when describing a whole situation, idea, or clause. Here, sanngjarnt is describing the full clause:

að báðar fái tíma til að tala

So the sense is:

• It is fair that both get time to talk

That invisible it is why the neuter form sanngjarnt is used.

This að introduces a subordinate clause, like English that:

• sanngjarnt að báðar fái tíma...
• fair that both get time...

So here að is a conjunction meaning that.

It is different from the later að in til að tala, which is part of an infinitive construction.

Báðar is the feminine plural nominative form of báðir/báðar/bæði = both.

That tells you the sentence is talking about two feminine people or feminine nouns.

• báðir = both, masculine
• báðar = both, feminine
• bæði = both, neuter

So this sentence specifically points to two women or two feminine referents.

It is nominative plural feminine because it is the subject of fái in the subordinate clause:

• báðar fái tíma

Even though the whole sentence starts with mér finnst, inside the að-clause, báðar is the one doing the action of getting time.

Fái is the present subjunctive of fá.

The subjunctive is common after expressions of opinion, judgment, necessity, or desirability, especially in clauses introduced by að after phrases like:

• mér finnst mikilvægt að...
• mér finnst gott að...
• mér finnst sanngjarnt að...

So að báðar fái tíma means something like that both should/get to have time, in a judged or evaluated sense.

In English, this difference usually does not need to be translated directly.

Because fá takes a direct object in the accusative, and here time is indefinite.

So:

• fá tíma = get time
• tíma = accusative singular of tími

It is not tímann because the sentence is not talking about a specific, already known time.

It means to talk / for talking.

The pattern is:

• tími til að + verb

So:

• tími til að tala = time to talk
• more literally: time in order to talk

This is a very common Icelandic structure.

No.

There are two different jobs here:

• að báðar fái...: að = that, introducing a clause
• til að tala: að = infinitive marker, like English to in to talk

So they look the same, but they are doing different grammatical work.

Here því means because / since / for.

It introduces the reason:

• því sanngirni skiptir máli...
• because fairness matters...

This is a conjunction here, not the pronoun form of það.

Skipta máli is a very common Icelandic expression meaning:

• to matter
• to be important
• to make a difference

So:

• sanngirni skiptir máli = fairness matters

You should learn skipta máli as a set phrase.

Because the expression is skipta máli, and mál appears in the dative in this fixed phrase.

So you do not usually analyze it word by word as a free combination. It is best learned as:

• það skiptir máli = it matters
• eitthvað skiptir máli = something matters

Because í takes:

• dative for location or state
• accusative for motion into something

Here the meaning is in a good conversation, not into a good conversation, so the dative is used:

• í góðu samtali

Also, samtal is a neuter noun, so góðu is the dative singular neuter form agreeing with it.

Yes.

They come from the same idea:

• sanngjarn = fair
• sanngjarnt = neuter singular form of fair
• sanngirni = fairness

So the sentence first uses the adjective fair, then the noun fairness:

• it is fair...
• because fairness matters...

That kind of word-family repetition is very natural in Icelandic.

Yes, you could say that, but the nuance is a little different.

• Mér finnst sanngjarnt... = I feel / I think it is fair
• Ég held að það sé sanngjarnt... = I believe / think that it is fair

Mér finnst often sounds a bit more personal and evaluative. In this sentence, it fits very naturally because the speaker is giving a judgment about fairness.