Breakdown of Hjartað í honum slær hægt.
hann
he
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
hægt
slowly
hjartað
the heart
slá
to beat
Questions & Answers about Hjartað í honum slær hægt.
Why do we say hjartað í honum instead of hjartað hans?
This is the typical Icelandic way to talk about internal body parts. For things inside the body like a heart, stomach, or brain, you use the definite noun (hjartað) followed by í and a dative pronoun (honum).
Why does hjartað have the definite article attached to it?
When using this specific body part possession structure, the noun must be definite. The phrase í honum takes care of the possession part, so you are literally saying the heart in him.
What is the base form of the verb slær?
The infinitive is slá, which means to hit, strike, or beat. It is a strong verb that has a vowel change in the present tense, going from á to æ.
Why use hægt here instead of the dictionary form hægur?
Because it is being used as an adverb to describe how the heart beats. In Icelandic, you normally form an adverb by taking the neuter singular form of the adjective, which in this case turns the adjective hægur into the adverb hægt.
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