Learn Icelandic: Ég er sveittur af því að flugið er um það bil að fara. - I am sweaty because the flight is just about to leave.

The core phrase um það bil literally means 'around that interval' and is often used alone to mean 'approximately'. However, when you sandwich it inside the continuous aspect structure (vera + um það bil + að + infinitive), it takes on the meaning of 'to be just about to' do something. Here, it shows the flight is on the very verge of leaving.

Would a female speaker say this sentence exactly the same way?

Almost, but not quite. The adjective sveittur (sweaty) is in the masculine singular nominative form, which tells us the speaker (ég) identifies as male. A female speaker would use the feminine form and say Ég er sveitt, while a non-binary speaker would use the neuter form Ég er sveitt.

Could I use vegna þess að instead of af því að for 'because' here?

Yes, they are fully interchangeable in this context. Af því að is very common in everyday spoken Icelandic, while vegna þess að is a slightly more formal alternative. Both effectively link the two clauses to explain why the speaker is sweaty.

Why does the word að appear twice in this sentence?