standa upp ("to stand up, rise, get to one's feet") is the everyday verb for the change from sitting or lying to standing — the thing you do when you rise from a chair, get up from the table, or stand to greet someone. It is built from the strong verb standa ("to stand, be standing") plus the directional particle upp ("up"). Almost everything tricky lives in the verb half: standa is a strong verb whose preterite swaps the stem to stóð- (with the long ó), and whose present plural shows u-umlaut, stöndum. The conceptual trap is different from the morphology, though: English "stand up" hides a split that Icelandic keeps sharp — standa upp (become standing) versus plain standa (be standing).
Conjugation
Class: strong, Class 6 (the standa type, with the nasal infix lost in the past: standa → stóð). Auxiliary: hafa — ég hef staðið upp "I have stood up." Note the u-umlaut a → ö in the present plural við stöndum (triggered by the -um ending), and the long ó running through the preterite. Throughout the tables, upp is a separate word that follows the conjugated verb; it is shown on the principal-parts line only.
| Principal parts | |
|---|---|
| Infinitive | að standa upp |
| 1sg present | stend upp |
| 1sg past | stóð upp |
| 3pl past | stóðu upp |
| Supine | staðið upp |
| Person | Present (nútíð) | Past (þátíð) |
|---|---|---|
| ég | stend | stóð |
| þú | stendur | stóðst |
| hann / hún / það | stendur | stóð |
| við | stöndum | stóðum |
| þið | standið | stóðuð |
| þeir / þær / þau | standa | stóðu |
| Person | Present subjunctive | Past subjunctive |
|---|---|---|
| ég | standi | stæði |
| þú | standir | stæðir |
| hann / hún / það | standi | stæði |
| við | stöndum | stæðum |
| þið | standið | stæðuð |
| þeir / þær / þau | standi | stæðu |
| Non-finite & imperative | |
|---|---|
| Imperative (þú) | stattu upp! / stand upp |
| Imperative (þið) | standið upp! |
| Supine | staðið |
| Past participle (m/f/n) | staðinn / staðin / staðið |
| Present participle | standandi |
The imperative is irregular: stattu upp!
The everyday command "stand up!" is stattu upp! — the þú-imperative statt with the cliticised pronoun -tu (from þú). This is the form you will actually hear, far more than the bookish stand upp. The double t of statt is a fusion artefact of the old imperative; don't try to derive it from the infinitive standa.
Stattu upp, hér er pláss fyrir þig fremst.
Stand up, there's room for you up front. — imperative stattu upp, the form you actually hear.
Allir stóðu upp þegar dómarinn gekk inn.
Everyone rose when the judge came in. — past plural stóðu upp, the formal 'rise' of standing to mark respect.
standa upp 'rise/become standing' vs standa 'be standing'
This is the heart of the page and the thing competitors skip. standa on its own is a static verb: it means "to be in a standing position," a posture you are already in. standa upp is dynamic: it means "to change into a standing position," to get to your feet. English "stand up" is ambiguous in a way Icelandic is not — Icelandic forces you to choose between the state (standa) and the change of state (standa upp). If you are already on your feet, you standur; the moment you rise from a seat, you stendur upp.
Hann stóð við gluggann og horfði út.
He was standing by the window, looking out. — static standa: he is already on his feet, no change of posture.
Hún stóð upp frá borðinu og fór fram.
She got up from the table and went out. — dynamic standa upp: the rise from sitting to standing.
Ég stend alltaf upp í strætó ef einhver eldri kemur inn.
I always stand up on the bus if anyone older gets on. — standa upp = vacating a seat, becoming standing.
The directional particle upp is what supplies the "becoming" meaning, exactly as in setjast "sit down" (become sitting) versus sitja "be sitting." Whenever you mean get to your feet, you need the upp; drop it and you have only described a standing posture.
rísa (intransitive 'rise') and reisa (transitive 'raise')
Two more verbs cluster here, and they encode a distinction English blurs in the pair rise / raise. rísa is intransitive — something rises by itself: the sun, a building going up, a person getting to their feet in elevated style (rísa á fætur "rise to one's feet," literary). reisa is transitive — you raise / erect something: a tent, a flag, a monument. The vowels do the work: rísa keeps í, reisa has ei. (Historically reisa is the causative of rísa — "make rise.")
Sólin rís seint á veturna hér.
The sun rises late in winter here. — rísa, intransitive: the sun rises on its own.
Þeir reistu tjaldið áður en rigningin byrjaði.
They put up the tent before the rain started. — reisa, transitive: you raise/erect the tent.
Það á að reisa nýja brú yfir ána.
A new bridge is to be built over the river. — reisa 'erect, build', transitive throughout.
In everyday speech standa upp covers "get up" for people; rísa leans literary or describes things rising; reisa is the transitive "put up / erect." Keeping the trio straight — standa upp (a person gets up), rísa (something rises), reisa (you raise something) — is the single most useful sorting English speakers can do here.
Common Mistakes
❌ Hún standaði upp frá borðinu.
Incorrect — standa is strong, not weak; there is no '-aði'. The past is 'stóð': 'hún stóð upp'.
✅ Hún stóð upp frá borðinu.
She got up from the table.
Regularising standa to a weak -aði past is the classic transfer error. The preterite is the strong long-ó stóð.
❌ Hann stóð upp við gluggann allan tímann.
Wrong meaning — 'standa upp' is the change to standing; for 'was standing (still)' by the window, use static 'stóð' with no upp.
✅ Hann stóð við gluggann allan tímann.
He stood by the window the whole time.
Adding upp turns a static "was standing" into a dynamic "got up." If no posture changes, drop the particle.
❌ Þeir risu nýja brú.
Incorrect — 'rísa' is intransitive (can't take an object); to raise/erect a bridge you need transitive 'reisa': 'þeir reistu nýja brú'.
✅ Þeir reistu nýja brú.
They built a new bridge.
rísa (í) cannot take a direct object; the causative "raise/erect" is reisa (ei). The vowel is the whole difference.
❌ Við standum upp þegar lagið byrjar.
Incorrect — the present 1pl has u-umlaut: 'stöndum', not 'standum'.
✅ Við stöndum upp þegar lagið byrjar.
We stand up when the song starts.
The a → ö u-umlaut hits the -um ending: við stöndum. Forgetting it leaves a non-form.
Key Takeaways
- standa upp = the strong verb standa (Class 6) + particle upp: stend upp (pres.), stóð / stóðu upp (past sg./pl.), staðið upp (supine), past subjunctive stæði.
- Series a – ó – ó – a: long ó through the preterite, u-umlaut stöndum in the present 1pl, clean a back in the supine staðið.
- The everyday command is the irregular stattu upp! (with cliticised -tu).
- standa upp (dynamic, get up) contrasts with static standa (be standing) — the particle upp marks the change of posture.
- Keep the trio apart: standa upp (a person gets up), rísa (a thing rises, intransitive, í), reisa (you raise/erect a thing, transitive, ei).
- Auxiliary is hafa: ég hef staðið upp.
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- standa (to stand)A2 — Full conjugation of the strong verb standa (stend / stóð / stóðu / staðið), the lost -n- in the past, the u-umlaut in stöndum, the idioms standa upp ('stand up') and standa sig ('do well / cope'), the middle voice standast ('pass / withstand'), and það stendur í blaðinu ('it says in the paper').
- rísaB2 — Full conjugation of the strong Class-1 verb rísa 'to rise' (rís / reis / risu / risið), the í–ei–i–i series. The key point: rísa is INTRANSITIVE ('rise, get up' — sólin rís, rísa upp) and pairs with the transitive causative reisa 'raise, erect' (reisti). Covers the contrast with standa upp and the figurative 'rise up / revolt'.
- setjast (to sit down)B1 — Full conjugation of setjast (sest / settist / settumst / sest), the middle voice of setja, meaning 'sit oneself down' — a dynamic change of posture, in contrast with the static sitja 'be sitting'. Covers the -st preterite settist/settumst, directional setjast niður, and the setjast/sitja change-of-state distinction.
- Two-Case Prepositions: Motion vs LocationA2 — The flagship Icelandic preposition rule: the spatial two-case prepositions í, á, undir, yfir, eftir take the accusative for motion / change of location (fara í bæinn) and the dative for static location / rest (vera í bænum) — the same preposition, the same noun, two endings, decided by whether the action changes where the figure is.
- Strong Verb Classes 4-7B1 — The last four ablaut classes of Icelandic strong verbs: Class 4 (e–a–á–o: bera → bar, báru, borið; nema, stela), Class 5 (e–a–á–e: gefa → gaf, gáfu, gefið; lesa, sjá → sá, sáu, séð), Class 6 (a–ó–ó–a: fara → fór, fóru, farið; taka → tók, standa → stóð), and Class 7 (the reduplicating remnant with é-preterites: halda → hélt, héldu, haldið; láta → lét, falla → féll, ganga → gekk, fá → fékk) — where the most irregular-looking everyday verbs actually live.