Orðið stendur í sviga í bókinni.

Because orðið is the definite singular form of the neuter noun orð (word).

• orð = a word
• orðið = the word

In this sentence, orðið is the subject, so it is in the nominative case. For this noun, the nominative singular definite form is orðið.

A learner should also know that orðið can sometimes be the past participle of verða (become), but here it clearly means the word.

Icelandic often uses standa (stand) in places where English would simply say is.

So:

• Orðið stendur í sviga
  literally: The word stands in parentheses
• natural English: The word is in parentheses

This is a normal Icelandic way of speaking about written text or something appearing in a certain place.

Stendur is the 3rd person singular present tense of standa (to stand).

That matches the subject orðið, which is singular:

• ég stend = I stand
• þú stendur is incorrect; it should be þú stendur? No — the correct form is þú stendur? Actually the correct 2nd person singular is also þú stendur
• hann/hún/það stendur = he/she/it stands

Here the subject is neuter singular (orðið), so stendur is the correct form.

Because the preposition í takes the dative when it means in in the sense of location.

Here the word is located in parentheses, so í governs the dative:

• nominative: svigi
• dative: sviga

So:

• í sviga = in parentheses / in brackets

This is one of the most useful patterns to learn: with í, location usually takes dative, while motion into something usually takes accusative.

Because í sviga is a very natural general expression meaning in parentheses.

English also often avoids the in expressions like:

• in parentheses
• in bold
• in italics

Icelandic does something similar here. It is not usually referring to one specific parenthesis as an object; it is describing the form in which the word appears.

So í sviga is the normal phrasing.

In this sentence, sviga is singular dative from svigi.

English uses a plural-looking word parentheses, but Icelandic commonly uses singular in this expression:

• í sviga = in parentheses

So you should not expect Icelandic to match English number here.

Bókinni is the dative singular definite form of bók (book).

Again, the preposition í takes the dative for location:

• bók = book
• bókin = the book
• í bókinni = in the book

So the sentence has two prepositional phrases with í, and both use the dative because both describe location.

Because they describe two different kinds of location:

• í sviga = in parentheses
• í bókinni = in the book

So the full sentence tells you both:

1. how the word appears: in parentheses
2. where it appears: in the book

That is perfectly normal in Icelandic.

The basic structure is:

Subject + Verb + Prepositional phrase + Prepositional phrase

So:

• Orðið = subject
• stendur = verb
• í sviga = prepositional phrase
• í bókinni = prepositional phrase

This is a very standard Icelandic main-clause word order. The finite verb is in second position, which is an important rule in Icelandic.

Yes. Icelandic allows different word orders, especially to shift emphasis, as long as the verb stays in second position in a main clause.

For example, you could also say:

• Í bókinni stendur orðið í sviga.

That would put more emphasis on in the book. But the original sentence is straightforward and neutral.

Yes. In this sentence, orðið is the subject.

A few clues:

• stendur is an intransitive verb here, so there is no direct object.
• The meaning is that the word is located somewhere.
• orðið is in the nominative form expected for a subject.

So the sentence is not saying that someone is doing something to the word; it is simply describing the word’s position in the text.

No, not literally.

Although standa basically means stand, Icelandic often uses it more broadly for text or information being placed somewhere. So in this sentence it means something like:

• appears
• is found
• is written

So Orðið stendur í sviga í bókinni means that the word appears in parentheses in the book, not that it is physically standing.

Here is the case breakdown:

• Orðið — nominative singular definite
  because it is the subject
• í sviga — dative singular
  because í takes dative for location
• í bókinni — dative singular definite
  again because í takes dative for location

So this sentence is a good example of:

• nominative for the subject
• dative after í when describing where something is