What it means
نفس گرفتن (nafas gereftan) means to take a breath or, after exertion, to catch one’s breath. The compound joins نفس (nafas), which comes from Arabic (the root ن-ف-س, nafas meaning breath or soul), with گرفتن (gereftan), a pure-Persian verb meaning to take or to receive. The result is a mixed-origin phrase used in both literal and figurative senses: literally drawing air into the lungs, and figuratively pausing long enough to recover or regroup. A related expression is نفس کشیدن (nafas keshidan), which leans more toward the ongoing act of breathing, while نفس گرفتن often implies a single, deliberate recovery breath.
How to use it
- یه لحظه وایسا نفس بگیرم. (Ye lahze vâysâ nafas begiram.) “Hold on a moment, let me catch my breath.”
- بعد از دویدن نشست تا نفس بگیره. (Ba’d az davidan neshast tâ nafas begire.) “After running, she sat down to catch her breath.”
- اینقدر حرف زدم که فرصت نفس گرفتن نداشتم. (Inqadr harf zadam ke forsat-e nafas gereftan nadâshtam.) “I talked so much I had no chance to take a breath.”
- برو بیرون یه کم هوا بخور، نفس بگیر. (Boro birun ye kam havâ bekhor, nafas begir.) “Go outside, get some air, catch your breath.”
Cultural note
In Persian, breath, nafas, carries poetic and spiritual weight beyond mere respiration. Classical poets such as Rumi and Hafez used nafas to evoke the divine breath of life, echoing the Arabic tradition linking nafas to the human soul (nafs). In modern spoken Persian, نفس گرفتن has shed those literary layers and is entirely everyday, used in conversation anywhere from a gym to a crowded bazaar. Iranians also say نفسم بالا نمیاد (my breath won’t rise) to describe breathlessness or suffocation, showing how breath remains a rich metaphor even in colloquial speech.