Ég teygi mig í smástund eftir vinnu.

I stretch for a little while after work.

Breakdown of Ég teygi mig í smástund eftir vinnu.

• ég: I
• vinnan: the work
• eftir: after
• í: for

Questions & Answers about Ég teygi mig í smástund eftir vinnu.

What does each part of Ég teygi mig í smástund eftir vinnu mean?

A word-for-word breakdown is:

Ég = I
teygi = stretch / am stretching
mig = myself / me
í smástund = for a short while
eftir vinnu = after work

So the whole sentence means I stretch for a little while after work.

Why does Icelandic use mig here? Why not just Ég teygi?

Because teygja sig is the usual reflexive expression for to stretch oneself.

So:

Ég teygi mig = I stretch / literally I stretch myself

If you leave out mig, the verb teygja more easily sounds like you are stretching something else, extending something, or pulling something out.

For an English speaker, this is a good pattern to remember:

• teygja sig = stretch oneself
• setja sig = sit down
• hreyfa sig = move oneself

Why is it mig and not sig?