Breakdown of Mig langar að lesa í rúmi.
mig
me (acc)
langa
to want
að
to (infinitive marker)
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
lesa
to read
rúmið
the bed
Questions & Answers about Mig langar að lesa í rúmi.
Why does the sentence start with mig instead of ég?
The verb langa (to want) is an impersonal verb in Icelandic. It doesn't take a normal subject like ég (I). Instead, the person who wants something must be in the accusative case. So, 'I want' is always mig langar (literally 'it longs me').
Why is the word for bed rúmi here instead of just rúm?
This is because of the preposition í (in). When í describes a static location (where something is happening, like reading in bed), the noun that follows it changes to the dative case. The dative form of the neuter noun rúm is rúmi.
Why doesn't it say í rúminu (in the bed)?
Just like in English where we say 'in bed' when talking about the general activity of resting there, Icelandic uses the bare, indefinite form rúmi here. If you were talking about a specific piece of furniture, you would say í rúminu (in the bed), which is the dative form with the definite article attached.
What is the word að doing in this sentence?
The word að is the infinitive marker, just like the word 'to' in English. Because you are connecting the feeling of wanting (langar) to the action of reading (lesa), you use að to make it 'to read' (að lesa).
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