How to say “forgive” in 33 different languages
Every one of these is a word that turns up in ordinary speech, not a dictionary curiosity — the number beside it is where it ranks in that language.
- 原諒/ɥɛn³⁵ li̯ɑŋ⁵¹/ Chinese
- συγχωρείτε/ˌsiŋxoˈrite/ Greek
- סלח/saˈlaχ/ Hebrew
- ներել/neˈɾel/ Armenian
- மன்னி/mɐnːiː/ Tamil
- ക്ഷമിക്കുക/kʂɐmikkjuɡɐ/ Malayalam
“forgive” in German: verzeihen · Portuguese: desculpe · Chinese: 原諒 · Turkish: affet · Greek: συγχωρείτε
It is commonest in Basque, where barkatu is the 61st most used word.
Forgive in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans vergewe/fərˈχɪə̯.və/ to forgive #393
- Albanian fal/ˈfal/ to forgive, pardon #152
- Armenian ներել/neˈɾel/ to forgive #1,047
- Basque barkatu/barkatu/ to forgive #61
- Bosnian oprostiti/oprǒstiti/ to forgive, pardon #1,624
- Bulgarian извинявам[izviˈnʲa̟vɐm] to forgive, excuse, pardon #1,366
- Catalan perdona/pərˈðonə/ to pardon, forgive, excuse #502
- Chinese 原諒/ɥɛn³⁵ li̯ɑŋ⁵¹/ to forgive; to excuse; to pardon #1,692
- Croatian oprostiti/oprǒstiti/ to forgive, pardon #1,406
- Danish tilgive/ˈtelˌɡiːˀ/ to forgive #1,705
- Dutch excuseer/ˌɛkskyˈzɪr/ to excuse, to pardon, to forgive #871
- English excuse/ɪksˈkjuz/ To forgive; to pardon; to overlook #344
- Esperanto pardonu/parˈdonu/ to forgive, pardon #125
- French pardonner/paʁ.dɔ.ne/ to pardon, forgive #2,436
- German verzeihen/fɛɐ̯ˈtsaɪ̯ən/ to forgive; to pardon; to excuse #1,378
- Greek συγχωρείτε/ˌsiŋxoˈrite/ to forgive, pardon, excuse #508
- Hebrew סלח/saˈlaχ/ to forgive #620
- Icelandic fyrirgefa/ˈfɪːrɪrcɛva/ to forgive #1,492
- Indonesian maafkan/maˈafkan/ to forgive; to condone #266
- Italian scusate/skʊˈzate/ to excuse, forgive, pardon #806
- Latvian piedot/ˈpieduot/ to forgive #2,475
- Macedonian извини[ˈizvini] to forgive, excuse, pardon #156
- Malayalam ക്ഷമിക്കുക/kʂɐmikkjuɡɐ/ to forgive #1,052
- Norwegian tilgi/ˈtɪlˌjiː/ to forgive #930
- Polish wybacz/ˈvɘ.bat͡ʂ/ to forgive #536
- Portuguese desculpe/desˈkuw.pi/ to forgive #307
- Romanian ierta/ˈjerta/ to forgive #2,259
- Serbian oprostiti/oprǒstiti/ to forgive, pardon #1,787
- Spanish perdona/peɾˈðona/ to pardon, excuse, forgive #1,249
- Swedish förlåt[ˌfœ̞ˈɭoːt] to forgive #186
- Tamil மன்னி/mɐnːiː/ to forgive, excuse, pardon #1,732
- Turkish affet/afˈfet/ to forgive, to pardon, to overlook, to excuse #1,948
- Vietnamese tha[tʰaː˧˧] to forgive #766
The speaker reads the word in the voice the LangX app uses for that language — synthesised, not a recording of a native speaker, so treat it as a guide. A row without a button has no reading we are free to use, or none we trust, yet. Voices for Catalan (upc_ona (ca_ES), CC BY-SA 4.0) and Vietnamese (vais1000 (vi_VN), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.