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Arabic root

ا-س-ف

Alif-Sin-Fa

2 words from this root family

About this root

Alif-Sin-Fa (ا-س-ف) has 2 words in the Fahm dictionary: āsifun (sorry), li-l-asaf (unfortunately).

In the Quran, words built on this root occur 5 times in 5 verses, across 5 of the 114 suras. The first is in 7:150.

Themes: Greetings, Basics, Advanced Expressions

Words from this root

WordMeaningTypeTaught in
آسِفٌ
āsifun
sorryadjective, A1More Greetings & Courtesies
لِلأَسَفِ
li-l-asaf
unfortunatelyphrase, B2Rhetorical Devices

In the Quran

وَتَوَلَّىٰ عَنْهُمْ وَقَالَ يَـٰٓأَسَفَىٰ عَلَىٰ يُوسُفَ وَٱبْيَضَّتْ عَيْنَاهُ مِنَ ٱلْحُزْنِ فَهُوَ كَظِيمٌ

And he turned away from them and said: Alas, my grief for Joseph! And his eyes were whitened with the sorrow that he was suppressing.

Quran 12:84
فَرَجَعَ مُوسَىٰٓ إِلَىٰ قَوْمِهِۦ غَضْبَـٰنَ أَسِفًا ۚ قَالَ يَـٰقَوْمِ أَلَمْ يَعِدْكُمْ رَبُّكُمْ وَعْدًا حَسَنًا ۚ أَفَطَالَ عَلَيْكُمُ ٱلْعَهْدُ أَمْ أَرَدتُّمْ أَن يَحِلَّ عَلَيْكُمْ غَضَبٌ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ فَأَخْلَفْتُم مَّوْعِدِى

Then Moses went back unto his folk, angry and sad. He said: O my people! Hath not your Lord promised you a fair promise? Did the time appointed then appear too long for you, or did ye wish that wrath from your Lord should come upon you, that ye broke tryst with me?

Quran 20:86
فَلَمَّآ ءَاسَفُونَا ٱنتَقَمْنَا مِنْهُمْ فَأَغْرَقْنَـٰهُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ

So, when they angered Us, We punished them and drowned them every one.

Quran 43:55

Arabic text: Tanzil Quran Text (Uthmani 1.1), CC BY 3.0, tanzil.net. English: Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain, via Project Gutenberg. Counts and verse choice: Quranic Arabic Corpus morphology data (corpus.quran.com).

Word cards with examples

A1adjective
آسِفٌ
āsifun

sorry

Example
أَنَا آسِفٌ عَلَى التَّأْخِيرِ.
anā āsifun ʿalā at-taʾkhīri.
I am sorry for the delay.
Grammar

Feminine form: 'āsifatun' (آسِفَةٌ). Used for apologies.

B2phrase
لِلأَسَفِ
li-l-asaf

unfortunately

Example
لِلأَسَفِ، لَم نَتَمَكَّن مِنَ الحُضور.
li-l-asafi, lam natamakkan mina l-ḥuḍūr.
Unfortunately, we were unable to attend.

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