# Fell asleep



## suma

Hi everyone,
give me the word or phrase for "fell asleep" as in nodded off, or fell off to sleep. thanks.


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## linguist786

ذهب إلى النوم 

maybe? Although that means "to _go_ to sleep". Don't know if there is a colloquial way of saying "to nod off"


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## Josh_

I remember seeing the word, but I can't remember offhand.  I think that نام would work just fine, or maybe رقد , or even   استغرق  في النوم (literally to sink into sleep) might fit the bill.

So you could possibly translate "The man fell asleep while reading" as:
استغرق الرجل في النوم وهو يقرأ.


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## abusaf

I would perhaps say يغفو


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## elroy

غفي and استغرق في النوم are both good.  I prefer the former, because the latter also implies "he feel into a _deep sleep_ (and probably slept for a while)" whereas the former is simply "fell asleep."  You could say that a man غفي for five minutes and then woke back up, but استغرق في النوم would not work in such a context.  Basically, غفي is the more neutral (and all-encompassing) of the two.  

رقد is too poetic. ذهب إلى النوم does not work, because it refers to voluntarily _going to bed_, and not inadvertently nodding off and falling asleep.

نام does not work either because that just means "he slept" (the whole process, not just the initial act of falling asleep). 

In colloquial Palestinian Arabic we also say "ghifi" and also "sihi."


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## MarcB

I likeنام  butرقد is more colloquial although نام gave the name to Bahrain's capitalلمنامة .


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## elroy

MarcB said:


> ...رقد is more colloquial...


Eh?  In what country or region?  To my Palestinian ears, رقد is decidedly formal and poetic, and we _never_ use it colloquially.  

Regarding نام - as I said before it means "to sleep" and not "to fall asleep."


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## MarcB

elroy said:


> Eh? In what country or region? To my Palestinian ears, رقد is decidedly formal and poetic, and we _never_ use it colloquially.
> 
> Regarding نام - as I said before it means "to sleep" and not "to fall asleep."


Hi Elroy,
It is used in the UAE.


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## Josh_

I couldn’t remember, but now I remembered.  You could also use نعس  or هوّم to mean to doze off or fall asleep.  I always get the first one mixed up with نعش which means to refresh, which in a way is a related to the idea of napping as one usually feels refreshed after a nap.


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## Josh_

elroy said:


> In colloquial Palestinian Arabic we also say "ghifi" and also "sihi."


"sihi" in Egyptian Arabic means to become inattentive or distracted, for example you could say:

fi 'l-maktaba sihiit shwayya wa-kutubii itsara2it.
In the library I was distracted briefly and my books were stolen.


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## elroy

Josh Adkins said:


> I couldn’t remember, but now I remembered. You could also use نعس or هوّم to mean to doze off or fall asleep. I always get the first one mixed up with نعش which means to refresh, which in a way is a related to the idea of napping as one usually feels refreshed after a nap.


 نعس means "to get sleepy" - not "to fall asleep."  I was not familiar with هوّم but I just looked it up and it seems to mean "to fall asleep."

For "to refresh" or "to revitalize" I would say أنعش.


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## elroy

Josh Adkins said:


> "sihi" in Egyptian Arabic means to become inattentive or distracted, for example you could say:
> 
> fi 'l-maktaba sihiit shwayya wa-kutubii itsara2it.
> In the library I was distracted briefly and my books were stolen.


 The connection is obvious.   In Palestinian Arabic your sentence would mean "I _nodded off_ briefly and...", although I do think we could also use "shiit" with this meaning (but "iltaheet" is more common).


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## Josh_

elroy said:


> نعس means "to get sleepy" - not "to fall asleep."  I was not familiar with هوّم but I just looked it up and it seems to mean "to fall asleep."
> 
> For "to refresh" or "to revitalize" I would say أنعش.


The Hans Wehr lists to take a nap or doze along with to be sleepy or drowsy.  I agree that the main meaning is to be sleepy, though.

The reason I sometimes confuse them is because in Egyptian they are na3as and na3ash, whereas in MSA na33asha is used or an3asha, like you said.  My Egyptian often creeps into my MSA.


> The connection is obvious.


Yes, that's what I thought as well.


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## elroy

Josh Adkins said:


> The Hans Wehr lists to take a nap or doze along with to be sleepy or drowsy.


 I'm beginning to have doubts about the quality of HW.  Just kidding, but seriously, I have never come across نعس with the meaning of actually taking a nap or actually falling asleep. Whether or not that's actually a legitimate meaning, I can assure you that it the word not used this way in practice.

Incidentally, both Sakhr and a quick scan of Google results confirm my definition; and neither lists or implies any confirmation of the "fall asleep" definition. 

In colloquial Palestinian Arabic, "ni3es" _always_ means "he got sleepy" and never means "he fell asleep" or "he took a nap." These would be translated as follows:

He fell asleep. - Ghifi./Sihi./Naam.*
He took a nap. - Akhad ghafwe./Akhad qayluule. 

*In Palestinian Arabic it's ok to use "naam" to mean "he fell asleep." Of course, it is also used for "he slept" (and also "he went to sleep.").


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## Josh_

In Egyptian you can use the verb 3assil to mean to take a nap or maybe say "khad ta3siila," but I get the idea it is a cutesy type of thing as people have smiled and laughed like you would at a child when I have said it.  Either that or they think it's something odd coming out of the mouth of an American.


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## ayed

1.Mr.John is , now , attending a boring lecture. He feels sleepy and he is about to sleep. His head is  nodding off right now.
 
2.Mr.Mike is driving his car for 5 or 6 hours .Now, he feels sleepy and his head is banging back and nodding off.
 
John and Mike are about or somewhat sleepy BUT not deeply.
 
As mentioned by Mr. Josh , in Saudi we always say :
"_ Yin'is_ " (*ينـعـــس*)
 ​


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## elroy

In all of your examples the respective subjects do not actually fall asleep.


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## Josh_

Nodding off is falling asleep -- a light sleep, but nonetheless sleep.  This is what I was relating my responses to concerning the word ينعش, not a synonym of نام which is a on a different level.  But we don't need to split hairs.  I agree with your earlier assessment.


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## elroy

Yes, "nodding off" is "falling asleep" but that's not the way Ayed meant it, judging from the context.



> 1.Mr.John is , now , attending a boring lecture. He feels sleepy and he is about to sleep. His head is nodding off right now.
> 
> 2.Mr.Mike is driving his car for 5 or 6 hours .Now, he feels sleepy and his head is banging back and nodding off.


I am fairly certain he meant that his head is beginning to nod in a manner that would indicate that he is about to fall asleep.  He has not, however, actually fallen asleep.


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## Josh_

One does not nod off when concious.  Nodding off, which is associated with the jerky head movements (when one is sitting up) is like micro-sleep as they sometimes call it in the medical field.  You are unconcious for a split second and then come to again, so you are technically asleep when your head nods.  That would be an odd feeling if you were to lose control of your head movement and be conscious to experience it.


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## elroy

I know what nodding off means.  The point is that I don't think Ayed intended to say that نعس = "he fell asleep."  We'll have to wait for him to confirm, of course.


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## abusaf

> *نَعَسَ* - [ن ع س]. (ف: ثلا. لازم).* نَعَسْتُ*،* أَنْعَسُ*، مص. نَعْسٌ، نَعَسٌ، نُعَاسٌ. 1."نَعَسَ الوَلَدُ" : أَخَذَتْهُ فَتْرَةُ نَوْمٍ، أي فِي لَحْظَةِ فُتُورِ حَوَاسِّهِ. 2."نَعَسَ رَأْيُهُ" : ضَعُفَ، لاَنَ. 3."نَعَسَ حَظُّهُ" : تَعِسَ. 4."نَعِسَتِ السُّوقُ" : كَسَدَتْ.


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## elroy

When I hear "he fell asleep" - or "he *fell off to sleep*," as was specified in the limited context we were provided by the thread starter - I do not think of أَخَذَتْهُ فَتْرَةُ نَوْمٍ، أي فِي لَحْظَةِ فُتُورِ حَوَاسِّهِ - I think of something longer.  I doubt that Suma was interested in those few uncontrollable seconds of sleep that occur when you are sleep-deprived and at a boring meeting, but rather to initial event of closing your eyes and falling into a "normal" period of sleep - i.e. not what happens when your head jerks up and down. (Suma, if I am wrong about this, please let me know.)

Nevertheless, I now realize that this must have been what HW was referring to with "fall asleep" (because نعس cannot be used with the second meaning I describe above) so it's all clear now.


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## ayed

Go to sleep; also, cease paying attention. For example, *As soon as the lights were dimmed he fell asleep*, or *His lectures are so dull that I fall asleep.*
http://www.answers.com/topic/fall-asleep
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In Saudi , even in nomadic dialect, we say"yin's"(*ينعـس*) when someone nods off "jerks back and forth" as he is setting or laying against a wall and has not gone deeply.
Otherwise, it means :
*غفا*
*نام *
*استغرق في النوم*


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## elroy

Thanks for the explanation, Ayed.  You have confirmed my suspicions.


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## ayed

elroy said:


> Thanks for the explanation, Ayed. You have confirmed my suspicions.


Not at all , Elroy.


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## SofiaB

Josh Adkins said:


> نام would work just fine, or maybe رقد ,





elroy said:


> Eh? In what country or region? To my Palestinian ears,





elroy said:


> رقد is decidedly formal and poetic, and we _never_ use it colloquially.


 


MarcB said:


> It is used in the UAE.


It is also used by some other khaliji speakers. My question is it unusual outside of khaliji speakers?


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## cherine

SofiaB said:


> It is also used by some other khaliji speakers. My question is it unusual outside of khaliji speakers?


Yes, it's not very common to use raqada in Egypt.
Although, some people would use the adjective raa2id راقد (where q is pronounced as a hamza), to say that someone is in bed. But again, it's not very common.

We more often say : نايم naayem (MSA: naa2im).


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## mujahid7ia

Not sure if this is relevant: arabicgems.wordpress.com/2006/04/13/kitty-kitty-sleep-sleep-sleep/


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## SofiaB

Both answers are very useful. Thank you


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## ayed

In Saudi, we say رقد/راقد as well


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