forgive someone

Meaning

This phrase means to stop feeling angry or resentful toward someone for an offense, flaw, or mistake they made. It involves letting go of negative feelings and allowing a relationship to move forward.

Examples

• It took me a long time to forgive him for lying to me about his past.

  It took me a long time to forgive him for lying to me about his past.

• Please forgive me for arriving so late to our meeting.

  Please forgive me for arriving so late to our meeting.

• She found it hard to forgive her sister after their big argument.

  She found it hard to forgive her sister after their big argument.

• I can forgive his rudeness because I know he is going through a tough time.

  I can forgive his rudeness because I know he is going through a tough time.

• If you want to save your relationship, you need to learn to forgive each other.

  If you want to save your relationship, you need to learn to forgive each other.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ I forgave to him.

  ✓ I forgave him.

  'Forgive' is a transitive verb. Do not use the preposition 'to' before the person you are forgiving.

• ✗ She can't forgive him about his mistake.

  ✓ She can't forgive him for his mistake.

  Use the preposition 'for' to introduce the reason or action you are forgiving someone for.

Related Expressions

Practice

• I don't know if I can ever ___ her for breaking my trust like that.

  💡 To stop feeling angry at someone for a mistake.

  Show answer

  forgive

• Please ___ me for interrupting, but I have an urgent question.

  💡 A polite way to ask someone to overlook a minor social mistake.

  Show answer

  forgive