Í bókinni standa sum orð í gæsalöppum, en restin er með lágstöfum.

to be

Breakdown of Í bókinni standa sum orð í gæsalöppum, en restin er með lágstöfum.

• bókin: the book
• með: with
• í: in

Questions & Answers about Í bókinni standa sum orð í gæsalöppum, en restin er með lágstöfum.

Why does the verb standa come before the subject sum orð?

This is because Icelandic follows the V2 rule in main clauses: the finite verb usually comes in the second position.

Here, Í bókinni is placed first for emphasis or as the topic, so the verb standa has to come next:

• Í bókinni = first element
• standa = second element
• sum orð = subject

So the structure is:

• Í bókinni standa sum orð ...

If the subject came first, you could also say:

• Sum orð standa í gæsalöppum í bókinni.

That is grammatically fine too, but the original sentence puts more focus on in the book.

Why is it í bókinni and not í bókin?

Because í can take either the accusative or the dative, depending on meaning:

• accusative = motion into something
• dative = location inside something

Here the meaning is location, not movement, so Icelandic uses the dative:

• í bókinni = in the book

Also, bókinni is the definite singular dative form of bók:

• bók = book
• bókin = the book
• bókinni = in the book / to the book, depending on context

Why does Icelandic use standa here instead of just vera?