How to say "to forget" in Arabic
CognateMeaningto forget
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
نَسِيَ
nasiyaנסי
نسي
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
שכח
shakhakhشَاخَاخ
How the two words are related
Cognate
Same Semitic root, same meaning — you already know this word.
Arabic root
ن-س-يHebrew root
נ-ש-הThe real cousin hides in Genesis: nasiya matches Biblical נשה, 'to forget' — the very verb behind the name מְנַשֶּׁה, Menashe ('for God has made me forget my hardship'). Modern Hebrew replaced it almost entirely with שכח, an unrelated root, so נשה survives mainly in that one name.
Related Hebrew word:נשהnashaنَاشَا
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On the street
How people actually say it in the spoken dialects, where it differs from the standard word.
Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta
نِسِي
nisiנסיCairo says nisi.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
نْسَى
nsaנסאDarija: nsa.
In a phrase
نَسِيَ الْمَوْعِد
nasiya al-mawʿidנסי אל-מועדHe forgot the appointment