Guten Tag! Der Schlaf (sleep) is not only one of life’s greatest joys, but it is extremely important, too. So let’s have a look at all things ‘sleep’ in German! Many thanks to the French blog for providing the inspiration for this post.

 

Firstly, the word for sleep (noun) in German is der Schlaf. The verb to sleep is schlafen. Here it is in the present tense:

Ich schlafe – I sleep/I am sleeping
Du schläfst – You sleep/are sleeping
Er/sie/es schläft – He/she/it sleeps/is sleeping
Wir schlafen – We sleep/we are sleeping
Ihr schlaft – You(plural) sleep/you are sleeping
Sie/sie schlafen – You(formal) sleep/are sleeping / They sleep/are sleeping

 

If someone is falling asleep, however, then the verb is einschlafen. Here is the verb einschlafen in the present tense – please note it is a separable verb. Read more about separable verbs and how they work.

Ich schlafe ein – I am falling asleep
Du schläfst ein – You are falling asleep
Er/sie/es schläft ein – He/she/it is falling asleep
Wir schlafen ein – We are falling asleep
Ihr schlaft ein – You(plural) are falling asleep
Sie/sie schlafen ein – You(formal)/they are falling asleep

If you want to differentiate between going to sleep and going to bed, here is how you say both of these:

Ich gehe ins Bett – I’m going to bed
Ich gehe schlafen – I’m going to sleep

You could also say Ich lege mich (ein bisschen) hin, which means I’m going to lie down (for a while).

Then there’s nap time! A nap in German is called das Nickerchen. This word comes from the German verb nicken – to nod. 

If you have a bad night’s sleep, or are generally bad at early mornings, the Germans might say you’re a Morgenmuffel.

A dream is called der Traum in German, while a nightmare is called der Alptraum (sometimes spelled Albtraum). You can read more about the word Alptraum in this post (it’s quite an interesting word).

Finally, here is some more, sleep-related vocabulary for you to study:

Coma – das Koma

Lullaby – das Schlaflied (‘sleep song’)

To snore – schnarchen

Insomnia – die Schlaflosigkeit (‘sleeplessness’)

Pyjamas – der Schlafanzug

Bed – das Bett

Duvet – die Bettdecke

Pillow – das Kopfkissen

Alarm clock – der Wecker (‘the waker’)

 

Schlaf gut!
Sleep well!

 

Constanze