Мне хочется ненадолго выйти на балкон.

Both can mean something like I want, but they are not used in exactly the same way.

• Я хочу выйти на балкон = I want to go out onto the balcony
• Мне хочется выйти на балкон = I feel like going out onto the balcony

So хочется often sounds a bit softer, more like a passing desire, mood, or urge.

Grammatically, хочется is an impersonal form. Instead of saying I want, Russian says something closer to to me, it is desired or I feel like. That is why мне is used.

Because хочется is used impersonally.

In this structure, the person experiencing the feeling is put in the dative:

• мне хочется = I feel like
• тебе хочется = you feel like
• ему хочется = he feels like

So мне does not mean me in the direct-object sense. It marks the person to whom the feeling happens.

Хочется is the 3rd person singular reflexive form related to хотеть (to want), but in this sentence it functions as an impersonal predicate.

A useful way to understand it:

• Я хочу = a straightforward personal statement: I want
• Мне хочется = an impersonal feeling: I feel like, I have an urge to

The -ся ending often appears in impersonal constructions of this kind.

Because выйти is the perfective infinitive, and here it refers to a single completed action: to step/go out onto the balcony.

Compare:

• выйти = to go out once, to step out
• выходить = to go out repeatedly, habitually, or as a process

In Мне хочется ненадолго выйти на балкон, the speaker wants to do it once, for a short time, so выйти is the natural choice.

Ненадолго means for a short time or briefly.

It is written as one word because here it functions as an adverb meaning the opposite of надолго (for a long time):

• надолго = for a long time
• ненадолго = not for long, for a short while

So the sentence means that the speaker wants to step out onto the balcony only briefly.

Russian uses на балкон with motion toward the balcony.

• на балкон = onto/to the balcony
• на балконе = on the balcony

So:

• выйти на балкон = to go out onto the balcony
• стоять на балконе = to stand on the balcony

Russian treats балкон as a surface/area you go onto, so на is used, not в.

This is just a normal Russian way of viewing the space.

Russian often uses на with places that are understood as open platforms, surfaces, or exposed areas. A balcony is conceptualized that way, so на балкон is standard Russian.

It is better to learn this as a set phrase:

• выйти на балкон
• стоять на балконе

rather than trying to match English prepositions exactly.

Yes. Russian word order is flexible, and changing it can slightly shift emphasis.

Neutral order:

• Мне хочется ненадолго выйти на балкон.

Other possible orders:

• Мне хочется выйти на балкон ненадолго.
• Ненадолго мне хочется выйти на балкон.

The first version is the most neutral and natural in many contexts. Putting ненадолго later can emphasize the time element a bit more.

It is neither especially formal nor especially informal. It is very common in everyday speech.

It often sounds:

• softer,
• less direct,
• more natural for momentary desires

than я хочу.

For example:

• Я хочу кофе. = I want coffee.
• Мне хочется кофе. = I feel like having coffee.

Both are normal, but the second often sounds more like a craving or current mood.

Yes, that is a very natural English rendering.

Depending on context, Мне хочется ненадолго выйти на балкон could be translated as:

• I feel like stepping out onto the balcony for a bit.
• I want to go out onto the balcony for a little while.
• I’d like to step out onto the balcony briefly.

The Russian sentence itself is not especially formal, so the best English translation depends on tone.

Either can work, but step out often matches the nuance nicely.

Выйти usually means a single act of exiting or going out. Since a balcony is usually right next to the room, English step out onto the balcony often sounds especially natural.

So in this sentence, выйти на балкон is very close to:

• go out onto the balcony
• step out onto the balcony

Yes. The pattern мне хочется + infinitive is very common.

Examples:

• Мне хочется спать. = I feel like sleeping / I want to sleep.
• Мне хочется поесть. = I feel like eating.
• Мне хочется погулять. = I feel like taking a walk.
• Мне хочется выйти на улицу. = I feel like going outside.

So the sentence is a useful model:

• мне хочется
  • what you feel like doing