heita (to be called / be named) | Icelandic Grammar

heita is, statistically, one of the very first verbs you will say in Icelandic, because the standard way to give your name is Ég heiti … ("My name is …", literally "I am called …"). It is a strong verb with an unexpected past tense (hét), and it carries a grammatical surprise that English completely hides: the name after heita stands in the nominative, not as an object. This page covers the conjugation, the self-introduction formula, the nominative-complement rule, and the second meaning, "to promise."

Conjugation

Class: strong, class 7 (reduplicating type, with the é preterite hét). Auxiliary: hafa — ég hef heitið.

Principal parts
Infinitive	að heita
3sg present	heitir
3sg past	hét
Supine	heitið

Person	Present (nútíð)	Past (þátíð)
ég	heiti	hét
þú	heitir	hést
hann / hún / það	heitir	hét
við	heitum	hétum
þið	heitið	hétuð
þeir / þær / þau	heita	hétu

Person	Present subjunctive	Past subjunctive
ég	heiti	héti
þú	heitir	hétir
hann / hún / það	heiti	héti
við	heitum	hétum
þið	heitið	hétuð
þeir / þær / þau	heiti	hétu

Non-finite & imperative
Imperative (þú)	heittu (rare in the "be called" sense)
Imperative (þið)	heitið!
Supine	heitið
Past participle (m/f/n)	heitinn / heitin / heitið ("the late …", deceased)
Middle voice (miðmynd)	heitast — "to threaten / vow vengeance" (literary)

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Beware the homographs. The present heitir belongs to heita "be called," but heitir is also the masculine plural of the adjective heitur "hot." And the past participle heitinn has narrowed to mean "the late / deceased," as in Jón heitinn "the late Jón." Context — and whether a name follows — sorts them out.

The #1 use: Ég heiti … (saying your name)

The single most important sentence on this page is the self-introduction. Icelandic does not say "my name is"; it says "I am called": Ég heiti … To ask someone's name, you say Hvað heitir þú? — literally "What are you called?" Answer in kind.

Góðan dag, ég heiti Anna. Hvað heitir þú?

Hello, my name is Anna. What's your name?

Hún heitir Guðrún og bróðir hennar heitir Ari.

Her name is Guðrún and her brother's name is Ari.

The grammatical surprise: the name is nominative

Here is what competitors usually skip. After heita, the name is not a direct object — it is a predicate nominative, standing in the same case as the subject: the nominative. heita is a linking verb, like vera "to be," so it equates two things rather than acting on one. This matters the moment you name someone whose name has case forms: you keep the dictionary (nominative) form. Compare the genuine object construction kalla einhvern eitthvað ("call someone something"), which does take the accusative.

Kötturinn okkar heitir Brandur.

Our cat is called Brandur. (Brandur stays nominative)

Bærinn heitir Ísafjörður.

The town is called Ísafjörður.

The past: hét (an old reduplicated preterite)

The past tense hét is irregular and worth memorising as a fixed shape — ég hét, þú hést, hann hét, við hétum. You will need it constantly to report someone's former or original name.

Amma mín hét Sigríður.

My grandmother was named Sigríður.

Hvað hést þú aftur? Ég gleymdi nafninu þínu.

What was your name again? I forgot your name.

Second sense: heita + dative = "to promise"

heita has a second life as "to promise" (and, in older or elevated style, "to threaten / vow"). The person you promise goes in the dative, the thing promised in the accusative: heita einhverjum einhverju. This is a separate construction from the "be called" sense — here heita is a transitive verb with real objects.

Ég heiti þér því að ég skal koma á morgun.

I promise you that I'll come tomorrow.

Hann hét mér aðstoð sinni.

He promised me his assistance.

Common Mistakes

❌ Mitt nafn er María.

Grammatical but unidiomatic — Icelandic introduces names with heita, not 'my name is'

✅ Ég heiti María.

My name is María.

❌ Ég heiti er Pétur.

Incorrect — heita already means 'be called'; don't add er ('is') as well

✅ Ég heiti Pétur.

My name is Pétur.

❌ Bróðir minn heitaði Jón.

Incorrect — heita is strong; the past is hét, not the weak heitaði

✅ Bróðir minn hét Jón.

My brother was named Jón.

❌ Ég heiti þig að koma.

Incorrect — in the 'promise' sense the person is dative, not accusative: þér, not þig

✅ Ég heiti þér að koma.

I promise you I'll come.

Key Takeaways

heita / heitir / hét / heitið — a strong verb; the past hét is irregular and must be memorised.
Self-introductions use Ég heiti …, not "my name is"; ask with Hvað heitir þú?
After "be called," the name is a predicate nominative — keep the dictionary form.
Second sense heita = "promise" with the person in the dative: heita einhverjum einhverju.
Don't add er after heiti — the verb already supplies "is."

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