# last night I could not fall asleep



## zinc

Hi. Is this right: "gisteravond kon ik niet in slaap vallen" ?


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## Vasiliy

Yes it's right


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## Brownpaperbag

It's ok, but _vannacht_ is more common than _gisteravond_.

Brown​


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## NewtonCircus

"Vannacht" is a bit tricky. It can both mean last night or tonight.
"Gisterenavond or gisteravond" does not have this confusion.

"Vannacht *kon* ik niet in slaap vallen" (Past tense)
means indeed that you could not fall asleep last night.

"Vannacht *zal* ik heel laat naar bed gaan" (Future tense)
I shall go to bed late tonight.

Groetjes Herman


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## zinc

Many thanks everyone.  Je dormirai sur mes deux oreilles ce soir.


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## Brownpaperbag

I agree that _vannacht_ could cause confusion, however, I intended the word in the context as specified in the topic.

In Holland, the period when adults usually sleep is de _nacht_, not de _avond_.


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## Kayla321

Though the sentence is essentially correct, I would never say it like that. I think I would choose _Ik kon niet in slaap komen vannacht/gister(avond)_.


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## ThomasK

Or: ik kon de slaap niet vatten (_ik kon niet in slaap raken_ --- maar dat is misschien te Vlaams...)


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## Peterdg

ThomasK said:


> Or: ik kon de slaap niet vatten (_ik kon niet in slaap raken_ --- maar dat is misschien te Vlaams...)


Thomas,

Is er iemand die "ik kon de slaap niet vatten" ook echt zou zeggen? Misschien in Nederland (¿?) of op TV maar hier heb ik het nog nooit spontaan gehoord. Ik vermoed eigenlijk dat het "boekennederlands" is.

Wij zouden hier zeggen: "Ik geraakte gisteravond niet in slaap".


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## Brownpaperbag

I guess most common in Holland is to say "ik kon niet slapen vannacht".


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## ThomasK

Well, "De slaap niet vatten" : boeken-Nederlands vind ik wat te negatief, maar wel inderdaad een wat formeel register, maar toch ongebruikelijk, vind ik.


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## ThomasK

Brownpaperbag said:


> I guess most common in Holland is to say "ik kon niet slapen vannacht".


 
I beg to disagree though: "I could not fall asleep" implies, I think, that it took a long while before one was able to start sleeping, but it need not imply, does it, that one does not sleep at all. In some cases the two meanings can come close to another, I agree.


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## Brownpaperbag

ThomasK said:


> I beg to disagree though: "I could not fall asleep" implies, I think, that it took a long while before one was able to start sleeping, but it need not imply, does it, that one does not sleep at all. In some cases the two meanings can come close to another, I agree.


 
The two meanings come close indeed. Saying "ik kon niet slapen" in Dutch doesn't mean that one didnìt sleep at all. Itìs pretty rare one goes to sleep and doesn't sleep at all. So saying "ik kon niet slapen" means automatically " it took a while..".

Maybe it would be better to say" ik heb een hele tijd wakker gelegen"...


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## NewtonCircus

Sorry but I could not control the urge after all this nitpicking here .
Here we go. 

*"Ik had moeite met slapen vannacht"* 

Goodnight Herman


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## ThomasK

Wait a sec: is this nitpicking? I think in these contexts more specifications, extra considerations, are useful, and as a matter of fact the person asking questions gets various ways for formulating the idea.


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## zinc

Works for me, please continue to nitpick at your leisure ...


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## ThomasK

Thatr's what I thought: you don't just dictionary information, but the common phrases, etc.,and the shades of meaning that go along with that...


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## Chimel

Brownpaperbag said:


> Saying "ik kon niet slapen" in Dutch doesn't mean that one didnìt sleep at all. Itìs pretty rare one goes to sleep and doesn't sleep at all. So saying "ik kon niet slapen" means automatically " it took a while..".


But sometimes, you just want to say that you couldn't sleep at all. Not very frequent, I agree, but it does happen, I assure you... 

In French, we would say in this case: "Je n'ai pas pu dormir cette nuit". How would you convey this meaning in Dutch if "ik kon niet slapen" only means that it took a while before falling asleep?


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## Brownpaperbag

I agree with that Chimel, that's why I said a little further that it would be better to say something like "ik heb een hele tijd wakker gelegen".


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## ThomasK

Chimel said:


> How would you convey this meaning in Dutch if "ik kon niet slapen" only means that it took a while before falling asleep?


 
Wait a sec: "Ik heb geen oog dichtgedaan", "ik heb de hele nacht niet kunnen slapen", etc. Words are not always that precise - and they do not just mean what they seem to mean... I think that is what we call 'idioms', and that is what makes languages so interesting - and so difficult!


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## Brownpaperbag

... and the expression could then be classified as an _overstatement_, quite common in everyday language...


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## ThomasK

Excellent observation indeed !


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## elroy

"I could not fall asleep" does not imply that I eventually fell asleep.  The following conversation, for example, is entirely possible:

-I didn't sleep at all last night!
-Oh yeah?  How come?
-I don't know.  I just couldn't fall asleep.

(And yes, it _does_ happen!)

So to make it clear that you did eventually fall asleep, you would have to say "I couldn't fall asleep for a while / for a long time."


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## NewtonCircus

elroy said:


> "Learn to stop arguing once you have won."


 
*Ik kon niet in slaap komen.
Ik kon de slaap niet vatten.
Ik geraakte gisteravond niet in slaap.
Ik kon niet slapen vannacht.
Ik heb een hele tijd wakker gelegen.
Ik heb de hele nacht wakker gelegen.
Ik had moeite met slapen vannacht.
Ik heb geen oog dichtgedaan.*

I probably won't fall asleep anymore after reading this thread. 

The above phrases mean more or less the same.
1) That you did not sleep at all,
2) That you did not sleep well.
3) That you slept on and off.
4) That you slept for several hours and woke up again.
5) That you did not sleep for several hours and fell asleep.
6) That you only caught sleep in the morning.

Let's face it. If you make one of the above statements nobody is going to ask you what the situation actually is, unless that person is your doctor .

I hereby declare myself the winner

Good night. Herman.


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