Reacties op het goede nieuws dat hij geslaagd is

What does “een pak van mijn hart” mean in Dutch?

When someone hears that a loved one has passed an exam, the instinctive Dutch response is een pak van mijn hart — literally “a pack off my heart.” The image is a heavy bundle lifted from the chest the moment worry ends. English reaches for the mind in the same metaphor (“a load off my mind”), but Dutch anchors relief firmly in the heart, which makes the phrase feel warmer and more physical.

The construction is fixed: een pak van mijn/zijn/haar hart (“a weight off my/his/her heart”). You can also hear the shortened colloquial form pak van m’n hart. The phrase works for any good news that ends a period of anxiety — exam results, a medical diagnosis, a missing person found. In the clip a family member blurts “echt een pak van mijn hart” twice in quick succession on hearing the exam scores, the repetition showing just how much the tension had built up.