Mig langar í smá tíma með sjálfri mér.

Because langa is very often used in an impersonal construction in Icelandic.

The pattern is:

• e-n langar í e-ð = someone wants something
• e-n langar að... = someone wants to do something

In that pattern, the person who feels the desire is not in the nominative case. It appears in the accusative, so:

• ég becomes mig

And the verb stays in the default 3rd person singular form:

• langar

So mig langar is the normal Icelandic way to say something like I want or I feel like in this structure.

The dictionary form is langa.

In this sentence, langar is the present-tense form used in the impersonal pattern. So if you look it up, you would usually find it under langa, often with a usage pattern like:

• e-n langar í e-ð
• e-n langar að gera e-ð

That helps you remember that the person is in the accusative.

Here, í is part of the pattern langa í, which means to want / to feel like / to crave a thing.

So:

• Mig langar í kaffi. = I want coffee / I feel like coffee.
• Mig langar í smá tíma. = I want a little time.

A useful contrast:

• Mig langar í...
  • noun = I want something
• Mig langar að...
  • infinitive = I want to do something

For example:

• Mig langar í frí. = I want a holiday / a break.
• Mig langar að hvíla mig. = I want to rest.

Because tími changes to tíma in the accusative singular, and this construction calls for that form.

The noun is:

• tími = time

In this sentence it appears as:

• tíma = accusative singular

So smá tíma means a little time / some time.

Because smá is very often used as an indeclinable word in everyday Icelandic.

That means it stays the same instead of changing for:

• gender
• number
• case

So you can think of smá here as a very common everyday word meaning:

• a little
• some
• small

In this sentence, smá tíma is a very natural way to say a little time or some time.

It literally means with myself.

In natural English, that usually comes out as:

• by myself
• to myself
• alone

So this part adds the idea that the speaker wants time alone, not just time in general.

Because með mér usually means with me, not with myself.

Compare the two:

• með mér = with me
• með sjálfri mér = with myself

If you only say með mér, it sounds like someone or something is with you. It does not clearly express the reflexive idea of being alone with yourself.

The word sjálfri adds that reflexive/emphatic meaning.

Because með takes the dative case.

The forms of ég are:

• ég = nominative
• mig = accusative
• mér = dative

Since með requires the dative, you must say:

• með mér

not:

• með mig

The same case rule also affects sjálfri, which is also in the dative here.

Sjálfur changes to match the speaker’s gender and case.

Here it is:

• dative
• singular
• feminine

So a female speaker says:

• með sjálfri mér

A male speaker would say:

• með sjálfum mér

This is one place where the speaker’s gender shows up clearly in the sentence. The pronouns mig and mér themselves do not show gender, but sjálfri / sjálfum does.

Not exactly. It is made of two parts:

• sjálfri = a form of sjálfur, meaning self
• mér = the dative form of ég

Together they function like English myself in this context.

So Icelandic does not use one single word here the way English does. Instead, it builds the meaning with:

• sjálf-
  • pronoun

They can be similar, but they are not exactly the same.

• Mig langar... often sounds softer and more like I feel like / I’d like
• Ég vil... is more direct: I want

So in this sentence, mig langar sounds natural and gentle. It fits well with the idea of wanting a bit of personal space or alone time.

Yes, you could say:

• Mig langar í smá tíma.

That still makes sense, but it only means that you want some time. It does not clearly say that you want to be alone.

Adding með sjálfri mér is what gives the sentence the sense of:

• time to myself
• time alone
• personal space