غَفَرَ forgive in Arabic
غَفَرَ is how you say “forgive” in Arabic.
Root غ ف ر ġ-f-r. verb (form I). ġafara.
Arabic
English
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Meaning of forgive in Arabic
- to cover, veil, conceal, or hide (something) The primary, literal sense of the root — e.g. covering white hair with dye, or packing goods into a bag so they are hidden from view.
- to forgive, pardon (a sin or offense) Said especially of God forgiving a person's sin (ġafara lahū ḏanbahū); built on the 'covering' sense — the fault is covered over rather than simply erased.
- to set right, rectify (a matter) Figurative extension: 'covering' an affair with what is needed to fix it, i.e. putting it right.
Example sentence
فَإِن غفرها لَهُ فبمحض إحسانه وَكرمه
So if He forgives it for him, it is by His pure kindness and generosity.
غَفَرَهَا He forgave it
Past-tense verb 'forgave', 'he' form; the ending '-ha' adds 'it' (the deed) — 'He forgave it'.
The English is machine-translated.
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How it is used
The word's root meaning is physical covering or concealment; the religious sense 'forgive' grows directly out of this, since God's forgiveness is pictured as covering over a person's sin rather than erasing it. It is typically used with a following person marked by li- ('for/to him') and the sin as object, as in ġafara lahū ḏanbahū, 'He forgave him his sin.'
Words from the same root
- اِسْتَغْفَرَ to beg or seek God's forgiveness for a sin
- اِغْتَفَرَ to forgive, pardon (someone for what they did)
- غفّرهُ to say of someone 'may God forgive him'
- تغافرا (of two people) to pray for each other's forgiveness
- غُفْرٌ the young of a mountain-goat
- غَفَرٌ the nap or pile of a garment; also fine, downy herbage
More example sentences
وَمِن فَاتَهُ هَذَا التَّوْحِيد فَإِن الله لَا يغْفر أَن يُشْرك بِهِ
And whoever misses this monotheism, indeed Allah does not forgive associating others with Him.
يَغْفِرُ He forgives
Present-tense 'forgives', subject 'He' inside the form; with the 'la' before it, 'does not forgive' as an ongoing reality. The clean ending shows a flat statement, not tied to any mood-trigger.
قَالَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى يَا ابْنَ آدَمَ إِنَّكَ مَا دَعَوْتنِي وَرَجَوْتنِي غَفَرْتُ لَك عَلَى مَا كَانَ مِنْك وَلَا أُبَالِي،
Allah, the Exalted, said: "O son of Adam! As long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind.
غَفَرْتُ I shall forgive
Past in form but future in force: this is God's response to the condition, and Arabic states a guaranteed outcome in the past tense to make it feel already settled. The '-tu' is the subject 'I'.
يَا ابْنَ آدَمَ لَوْ بَلَغَتْ ذُنُوبُك عَنَانَ السَّمَاءِ ثُمَّ اسْتَغْفَرْتنِي غَفَرْتُ لَك،
O son of Adam! If your sins were to reach the clouds of the sky and then you were to ask for My forgiveness, I would forgive you.
غَفَرْتُ I would forgive
This is the outcome of 'even if': God's forgiveness, again put in the past to make it sound settled. The '-tu' is 'I.' Both halves of this 'if' sit in past form, yet this second one is what would happen.
Common questions
- How do you say "forgive" in Arabic?
- غَفَرَ (ġafara) — from the root غ ف ر, whose core meaning is 'to cover'; forgiving a sin is pictured as covering it over.
- What is the literal meaning of the root غفر?
- It literally means to cover, veil, or conceal something; the sense 'forgive' is a later, figurative extension of this covering idea.
Related words
Definitions summarised from Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon (E. W. Lane, 1863–1893).