heyra (to hear) | Icelandic Grammar

heyra ("to hear") is the verb of passive perception — sound reaching your ears, whether you meant it to or not — as opposed to hlusta, which is the deliberate "listen." It is a weak verb of the -ði type (the ja/i-class), so its past is heyrði, not an -aði form, and its supine is the short heyrt. Beyond the plain "hear," heyra powers two things every learner needs early: the contact idiom heyra í + dative ("hear from / get in touch with someone"), and the single most useful conversational opener in Icelandic — Heyrðu!, literally "Hear!", used exactly like English "Listen…" or "Hey…" to grab attention before you say something.

Conjugation

Class: weak (the -ði / ja-i type). Auxiliary: hafa — ég hef heyrt "I have heard."

Principal parts
Infinitive	að heyra
1sg present	heyri
3sg past	heyrði
3pl past	heyrðu
Supine	heyrt

Person	Present (nútíð)	Past (þátíð)
ég	heyri	heyrði
þú	heyrir	heyrðir
hann / hún / það	heyrir	heyrði
við	heyrum	heyrðum
þið	heyrið	heyrðuð
þeir / þær / þau	heyra	heyrðu

Person	Present subjunctive	Past subjunctive
ég	heyri	heyrði
þú	heyrir	heyrðir
hann / hún / það	heyri	heyrði
við	heyrum	heyrðum
þið	heyrið	heyrðuð
þeir / þær / þau	heyri	heyrðu

Non-finite & imperative
Imperative (þú)	heyrðu
Imperative (þið)	heyrið!
Supine	heyrt
Past participle (m/f/n)	heyrður / heyrð / heyrt
Middle voice (miðmynd)	heyrast — "to be heard / be audible" (past heyrðist)

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Watch the present singular vowel: it's heyri / heyrir / heyrir, not the -ar you'd get from a Class-1 verb like tala. The -i / -ir / -ir singular and the -ði past are the fingerprints of this ja/i-class — the same pattern as spyrja and þekkja. There is no u-umlaut: the stem vowel is the diphthong ey, not a.

heyra (+ accusative) — plain perception

In its core meaning, heyra takes a direct object in the accusative: you hear a sound, a voice, the news.

Heyrir þú þetta? Það er einhver fyrir utan.

Do you hear that? There's someone outside. (present heyrir + accusative þetta)

Ég heyrði ekki hvað þú sagðir.

I didn't hear what you said. (past heyrði)

Hefurðu heyrt nýjustu fréttirnar?

Have you heard the latest news? (perfect: hefurðu + supine heyrt)

heyra vs hlusta — hear vs listen

The pair maps neatly onto English. Heyra is involuntary perception; hlusta is deliberate attention (and takes á + accusative). You can heyra the neighbours without hlusta-ing to them.

Ég heyri tónlistina en ég er ekki að hlusta á hana.

I hear the music but I'm not listening to it. (heyra = perceive; hlusta á = attend to)

heyra í — "hear from / get in touch" (+ dative)

A high-frequency idiom: heyra í + dative means "to hear from" someone or "to be in contact with" them — the way you'd talk about a phone call, a message, or staying in touch. The í here is not the locational "in"; it's a fixed governance taking the dative of the person.

Ég heyrði í mömmu í gær.

I spoke to / heard from my mum yesterday. (heyra í + dative 'mömmu')

Heyrðu í mér þegar þú ert komin heim!

Give me a call when you get home! (imperative heyrðu + í + dative 'mér')

This idiom is also the polite sign-off "let's be in touch": við heyrumst (middle voice, "we'll hear from each other") or ég heyri í þér ("I'll be in touch with you").

Allt í lagi, við heyrumst! — Já, heyrumst.

Okay, we'll be in touch! — Yes, talk soon. (middle voice heyrast: 'hear from each other')

Heyrðu! — the conversational opener

The most-used face of this verb is the imperative heyrðu ("hear!"), which functions as a discourse opener — exactly like English "Listen…", "Look…", or "Hey…" — to flag that you're about to say something, ask a favour, or change the subject. It is friendly and informal, heard constantly. (More attention-getters and discourse markers: openers and closers.)

Heyrðu, áttu eina mínútu?

Hey, do you have a minute? (Heyrðu as an attention-getting opener)

Heyrðu, ég var að gleyma — til hamingju með afmælið!

Oh hey, I almost forgot — happy birthday! (Heyrðu introducing a sudden thought)

The middle voice: heyrast — "be audible / carry"

The -st form heyrast means "to be heard / be audible," and the impersonal það heyrist ("it can be heard") is everyday. It's also how you say a sound carries or that someone is audible.

Það heyrist illa í þér, geturðu talað hærra?

You're breaking up / I can barely hear you, can you speak louder? (impersonal heyrist + í + dat.)

Common Mistakes

❌ Ég heyrar fuglana.

Incorrect — heyra is a ja/i-verb: the present is heyri/heyrir, not the Class-1 -ar ending.

✅ Ég heyri fuglana.

I hear the birds.

❌ Ég heyraði ekki símann.

Incorrect — the past is the -ði form heyrði, not a regularised -aði.

✅ Ég heyrði ekki símann.

I didn't hear the phone.

❌ Ég heyrði í mömmu (acc.) ... heyrði mömmuna.

Incorrect — heyra í (contact) takes the dative of the person, not the accusative: í mömmu, not the accusative object.

✅ Ég heyrði í mömmu í gær.

I heard from my mum yesterday. (heyra í + dative)

❌ Ég er að heyra á tónlist.

Incorrect — that's the 'listen to' frame, which belongs to hlusta á; plain perception is heyra + accusative, with no á.

✅ Ég heyri tónlist í fjarska.

I hear music in the distance.

Key Takeaways

heyra / heyrir / heyrði / heyrðu / heyrt — a weak ja/i-verb: present singular -i / -ir / -ir, past -ði (heyrði), short supine heyrt. No u-umlaut.
Plain "hear" takes the accusative: heyra fréttirnar.
heyra í + dative = "hear from / be in touch with": ég heyrði í mömmu; sign off with við heyrumst ("talk soon").
Heyrðu! is the everyday opener "Listen… / Hey…" — informal, extremely common.
heyra (perceive, passive) vs hlusta (attend, deliberate, + á acc.).
Middle voice heyrast = "be audible": það heyrist illa í þér ("you're hard to hear").
Auxiliary is hafa: ég hef heyrt.

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