# To fall asleep



## Frank06

Hi,

Every night I _fall_ _asleep_. 
[If the expression refers to the kind of dream in which one falls (somewhere between the being awake and sleeping), then it should be 'to fall awake' in my case, but anyway, that's not my point.]

I was wondering if a similar expression is used in other languages:

*English*: to fall asleep
*Dutch*: in slaap vallen

I searched this forum, and *French* doesn't seem to have a reference to falling+sleeping (s'endormir).

Any other languages which do have a similar expression?

Groetjes,

Frank


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## Outsider

Not in Portuguese. We say _adormecer_. Its structure is more more less "at" + "sleep" + incohative suffix.

We also don't say that we "fall" in love.


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## jonquiliser

In Swedish we'd say _att somna_, as an independent verb for the "activity" of falling asleep. There is, however, the expression _att falla i sömn_ ("to fall in sleep") which isn't used that much, apart from in older literature - in fairy tales it is common, for example. I don't know if it's a calque of English (or Dutch) or if it has actually been a common way of speaking in Swedish. At any rate, in Sleeping Beauty the princess and the whole court "föll i sömn"


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## cherine

Interesting 

In Arabic, apart from the simple verb "náma" نام (to sleep), we have this expression:
ghariqa fi nawmin 3amíq
غرق في نوم عميق
which literaly means: *drowned* in *deep* sleep  (Like in deep sea)
Or simply: 
ghariqa fi'n-nawm(i) 
غرق في النوم 

We even use it in colloquial, in Egypt: ghar2án fe'n-nóm غرقان في النوم

The verb saqata سقط (to fall) is used with coma: saqata fi ghaybúba سقط في غيبوبة (fell in a coma).


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## Outsider

jonquiliser said:


> There is, however, the expression _att falla i sömn_ ("to fall in sleep") which isn't used that much, apart from in older literature - in fairy tales it is common, for example.


Now that you mention that, you _can_ say in Portuguese, for example, _cair num sono profundo_, "to fall into a deep sleep". But this isn't used very often.


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## Lello4ever

In Italian we say *addormentarsi*. Anyway "cadere addormentato" which is the actual translation from English, has an intesifying sense and could be used in some contexts.


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## Aurin

In German:
einschlafen
colloquial also: eindösen


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## Aurin

In Spanish:
adormecerse
conciliar sueño


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## spakh

In Turkish;

"uyuyakalmak" , "uyuyup kalmak" or "uykuya dalmak"

Last one means 'to dive into sleep'.
Others mean 'stay sleeping'


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## Lemminkäinen

jonquiliser said:


> In Swedish we'd say _att somna_, as an independent verb for the "activity" of falling asleep. There is, however, the expression _att falla i sömn_ ("to fall in sleep") which isn't used that much, apart from in older literature - in fairy tales it is common, for example. I don't know if it's a calque of English (or Dutch) or if it has actually been a common way of speaking in Swedish. At any rate, in Sleeping Beauty the princess and the whole court "föll i sömn"



It's similar in Norwegian; *å sovne* (*å sove* means 'to sleep') and *å falle i søvn*.


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## Jana337

In Czech, we say "usnout". Now, you may not really see it but the word "sen" (dream) is the root of "usnout". So it kind of means "to switch into the dream mode".


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## Whodunit

Aurin said:


> In German:
> einschlafen
> colloquial also: eindösen


 
We should explain how the word _einschlafen_ (I don't use _eindösen_ at all) is put together:

ein- = in/into
schlafen = to sleep
einschlafen = to "sleep in"

It can be understood as _to fall in a sleep_.


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## linguist786

*Hindi/Urdu*: _so jaanaa_ (so = sleep, jaanaa = to go)
*Gujarati*: _suy javuN_ (suy = sleep, javuN = to go)


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## parakseno

Just like the other Romance languages, *Romanian* has a one-word verb for "to fall asleep": "a adormi". BUT, there is a quite frequently used expression that would be quite close to the English one: "a cădea pradă somnului" (word by word "to fall prey to slumber")...


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## DrWatson

Finnish:* nukahtaa*

The morphological structure of the verb indicates that it's actually the verb *nukkua* "to sleep" with a momentane aspect marker. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momentane) It's should still be noted that *nukahtaa* (and all other verbs with an aspect nature) is considered an independent word.

There's also an idiomatic expression *vaipua uneen*, literally "to sink in sleep/dream"


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## Flaminius

Japanese:
Several expressions are available including what I suspect a loan from English:
眠りにつく
nemuri-ni tsuku
follow/arrive at sleep

寝入る
ne-iru
enter sleep

眠りに落ちる
nemuri-ni ochiru
fall to sleep
[This one is rather rare.  I suspect it may be a literary expression that first came into existence in translation literature.]


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## Marga H

Outsider said:


> Now that you mention that, you _can_ say in Portuguese, for example, _cair num sono profundo_, "to fall into a deep sleep". But this isn't used very often.


Similar in Polish: *Zapadać w ( głęboki ) sen.*


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## Whodunit

Flaminius said:


> Japanese:
> Several expressions are available including what I suspect a loan from English:


 
When would you use 寝付く (ne-tsu-ku)?


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## Alijsh

In Persian we have *khâb-ash bordan*. It's a pronominal verb as in French *s'endormir*.

*khâb-am bord -* I fell asleep -> "sleep took me" is my best try for giving a literal translation

*be khâb raftan* - go to sleep -> exactly the same: to (be), sleep (khâb), go (raftan)


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## Stéphane89

In French, we don't have this exactly, but there is still:

Tomber de sommeil (Fall from sleep) which is used to say you are extremely tired and about to fall asleep.

We also say "Tomber dans les bras de Morphée" (to fall into Morpheus's arms"). Which is a polite euphemism for "sendormir" (to fall asleep). It refers to the god of dreams in Greek mythology.


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## PABLO DE SOTO

In Spanish *quedarse dormido.*

As in French we say *caerse de sueño*, when you are extremely tired and you can't even stand.


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## Abbassupreme

cherine said:


> Interesting
> 
> In Arabic, apart from the simple verb "náma" نام (to sleep), we have this expression:
> ghariqa fi nawmin 3amíq
> غرق في نوم عميق
> which literaly means: *drawned* in *deep* sleep  (Like in deep sea)
> Or simply:
> ghariqa fi'n-nawm(i)
> غرق في النوم
> 
> We even use it in colloquial, in Egypt: ghar2án fe'n-nóm غرقان في النوم
> 
> The verb saqata سقط (to fall) is used with coma: saqata fi ghaybúba سقط في غيبوبة (fell in a coma).


 
Interesting.  Persian uses the same word for "drown".   "Gharq"  . . . I guess we spell it the same way, too.


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## Outsider

PABLO DE SOTO said:


> As in French we say *caerse de sueño*, when you are extremely tired and you can't even stand.


Oh, we say exactly the same in Portuguese: _a cair de sono_ (falling with sleep).


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## Thomas1

Marga H said:


> Similar in Polish: *Zapadać w ( głęboki ) sen.*


Sorry for nitpicking, but it should rather be _zapaść w głęboki sen_.


Jana337 said:


> In Czech, we say "usnout". Now, you may not really see it but the word "sen" (dream) is the root of "usnout". So it kind of means "to switch into the dream mode".


Polish equivalents would be _zasnąć or_ _usnąć_; it's even the same root -- _sen._ 

Tom


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## Frank06

Hi

First of all, thanks for the replies so far.

To Stefke:
Merci bien! 'Tomber de sommeil' we would translate as 'omvallen van de slaap (or vaak) ', +/- to fall down because one is overwhelmed by sleep.

To Marga and Thomas,


Thomas1 said:


> _zapaść w głęboki sen_.


I don't know Polish at all, could you please give a word by word translation? 

Groetjes,

Frank


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## Thomas1

Here we go:

_zapaść w głęboki sen _to fall in a deep sleep
I can also imagine using it without the adjective, i.e.: _zapaść w sen_ - to fall asleep.


I'm not sure if you're interested in the reason I objected to Marga's translation, but I'll explain that anyway just in case you are.
Zapadać is an imperfective verb, it implies an uncompleted action, and thus, it really doesn't fit in in this case as one either falls asleep or not.
A sentence of this kind:
_Po tym jak wypił wino, zapadł w głęboki sen._
After he drank the wine he was falling asleep.
although, possible it is rather unlikely.



Tom


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## suslik

In Estonian: 

to fall asleep - magama jääma
I fall asleep - ma jään magama


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## Whodunit

Outsider said:


> Oh, we say exactly the same in Portuguese: _a cair de sono_ (falling with sleep).


 
Yes, we *could* say that in German, too: _in den Schlaf fallen_. But it's definitely not as common as _einschlafen_.


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## pharabus

Tagalog: Matutulog


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## halfminded

suslik said:


> In Estonian:
> 
> to fall asleep - magama jääma
> I fall asleep - ma jään magama



It is also possible to use: *uinuma*


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## Zimbru

in *romanian*: a adormi.


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## karuna

In Latvian we normally say _aizmigt. _But a more poetic expression would be _iegrimt miegā _(get immersed in sleep).


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## gopu

in Marathi we say : _zop laagaNe _(झोप लागणे)


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## Abbassupreme

Alijsh said:


> In Persian we have *khâb-ash bordan*. It's a pronominal verb as in French *s'endormir*.
> 
> *khâb-am bord -* I fell asleep -> "sleep took me" is my best try for giving a literal translation
> 
> *be khâb raftan* - go to sleep -> exactly the same: to (be), sleep (khâb), go (raftan)


 
I've heard "khâbam raft" a LOT more often than I've heard "khâbam bord", but "khâbam bord" makes sense to me, as well.


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## raspina

Alijsh said:


> In Persian we have *khâb-ash bordan*. It's a pronominal verb as in French *s'endormir*.
> 
> *khâb-am bord -* I fell asleep -> "sleep took me" is my best try for giving a literal translation
> 
> *be khâb raftan* - go to sleep -> exactly the same: to (be), sleep (khâb), go (raftan)


 

Actually in Persian we say *khabesh borde *


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## Nizo

In *Esperanto*, the common way to say "to fall asleep" is _endormiĝi_.  To express that it happened more suddenly, like "to nod off" or "to doze off," we use _ekdormi_.  Sometimes you'll see that a sleep "fell on" someone:  _profunda dormo falis sur lin_ (a deep sleep fell onto him ≈ he fell into a deep sleep), _dormego falis sur ilin_ (a big sleep fell onto them ≈ they fell into a deep sleep).


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## noncasper

In Vietnamese
*Buồn ngủ*


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## Kael

Latin:

Dormire - "to be/fall asleep"


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## Maja

In Serbian:

zaspati / usnuti.


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## kusurija

In Lithuanian:
Užmigti.
(to sleep - miegoti, the sleep - miegas)


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## Kanes

Bulgarian:

заспя (zaspia) = to fall to sleep(I)


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## ajo fresco

A question for our Spanish-speaking foreros:

Is there a difference between "adormecerse" and "dormirse"?

I've heard my Mexican friends say "me dormí" to mean "I fell asleep."

Muchas gracias


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## Fray Luis

Dormirse, quedarse dormido, adormecerse are all synonims.


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## Revontuli

Turkish: uyuyakalmak (exact translation is as in Spanish: quedarse dormido)


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## ajo fresco

Fray Luis said:


> Dormirse, quedarse dormido, adormecerse are all synonims.



¡Gracias, Fray!


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## jana.bo99

Croatian and Slovenian:

To fall asleep - Zaspati

To sleep:
Slovenian - Spati
Croatian - Spavati


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## Kangy

Aurin said:


> In Spanish:
> adormecerse
> conciliar sueño


Mind you, *adormecerse* has the meaning of _to become sleepy_, rather than _to fall asleep__* 
*__*Conciliar el sueño*_ sounds more like _to manage to fall asleep_ (especially after a long time without being able to).

I'll add two expressions which sound, at least to me, more natural and suitable for the meaning that's being discussed.

*Dormirse* - simple pronominal verb, with the basic meaning of _to become/fall asleep_
*Quedarse dormido* - same as above, though it emphasizes the sense of _falling_


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## Mahaodeh

cherine said:


> Interesting
> 
> In Arabic, apart from the simple verb "náma" نام (to sleep), we have this expression:
> ghariqa fi nawmin 3amíq
> غرق في نوم عميق
> which literaly means: *drowned* in *deep* sleep  (Like in deep sea)
> Or simply:
> ghariqa fi'n-nawm(i)
> غرق في النوم
> 
> We even use it in colloquial, in Egypt: ghar2án fe'n-nóm غرقان في النوم
> 
> The verb saqata سقط (to fall) is used with coma: saqata fi ghaybúba سقط في غيبوبة (fell in a coma).


 
I have to disagree, gharaqa fin-nawm is a poetic expression; the proper word for falling asleep is ghafa غفى.

With regards to the coma, I would use دخل في غيبوبة dakhala fi ghaybouba = he entered a coma.


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