Hello everyone,
and welcome to our German Word of the Day – this time with one of the best things ever:
ausschlafen
And actually, it’s more of a post about the whole family of schlafen with various prefix versions. But ausschlafen is so cool that I wanted to honor it by making it word of the day.
And before you all fall asleep while I am telling you stuff from the “who cares” bin, let’s jump right :)
If you want to stop hitting the wall in German – Join as a member!
As a member, you can study as much as you want and find lots of information you won’t find anywhere else. Not in class, not in a textbook and not Duolingo or Youtube.
You’ll also get pdf-download, progress tracking, note taking, comment notifications and all practice tools.
Already a member?
Log in here:
Great. Entertaining and thorough.
Danke :)!
Do people actually use “Schläfrig” im Alltag? I have been here for three years now and never heard it, so I am curious.
Hmmm, it’s not very common, but I do use it from time to time. You do need to be kind of close to people though. I think I use it mainly with my girlfriend.
Is there a pdf download option for this article ?
Are you downloading all the pdfs with the two week subscription?
Yes, i want to read them all and same all the files, i’m a bibliomania. Or is there an another option to do that in one click ?
No, I just wanted to offer a longer membership if it’s just because you’re short on money.
I would love to give you a hug if i was there w you. How does that work ?
You should make all your articles into a book ! I would love to buy that book !
That’d be more than 2000 pages :)
Your articles really make the languague something understandable ! Priceless
It’s done! I have extended your membership till end of June.
Many people are too shy to ask, but quite a few members have donated some extra to help out, so I’m happy to pass that on.
Yes, pdfs are an option, but you won’t have audios and quizzes in them, so I think you can learn better on site.
Viel Spaß :)
Thank you very very much !!!!!
Hope one day i can return the goodwill !
“Entschlafen is rather poetic sounding word for today” Meinst du, “to die”?
Ops, yeah, that’s quite a confusing typo, might have been auto correct, but maybe I just wasn’t ausgeschlafen :).
Thank you!
Einfach,, Wow“
I do have question in connection to “verstanden” und “verschalfen”. Both obviously have same prefix. But “ver”standen means “under”standing and “ver”schalfen means “over”sleeping.. wieso? does that mean the perfix for “over” and “under” are the same ? or is it again the long long ago, so long ago, story of some latin root? Just a curiousity…
I have the perfect article for you :)
https://yourdailygerman.com/german-prefix-ver-meaning/
Enjoy!!
Hello Wonderful Article.
I would like to ask a doubt.
How could we say that , For eg , My baby sleeps with me.
Thanks in advance.
or in another way, for eg: , My baby yesterday slept along with me.
( Sorry, I don’t know how to edit the previous comment, That’s why i am sending it in the Reply section.)
Yeah, I think you can only edit comments for half an hour after you post them (if not let me know, then I’ll actually have to investigate :)
The common way to say it is:
“Mein Baby schläft bei mir (im Bett).
Or what also works:
“Ich schlafe mit meinem Baby zusammen.”
But just to make sure… the following DOES NOT WORK:
– Ich schlafe mit meinem Baby.
This sounds like the FBI is about the knock down the door.
That was from me, Fatima^
Hi! Can someone tell me if there is a term in German for that feeling of relief that comes when one throws oneself into the bed after an emotionally/physically tiring day?
Wow, no. Do you have that in your language? What language is that?
Haha no :D
But someone suggested German might, considering the wide range and variety of feelings it hosts.
My colleague always ask me after i arrive at work in the morning, ausgeschlafen??
I dont know what to answer!! Is it meant sarcastically, or she really want to know whether i sleep good.
Its weird to start conversation of the day with this question. Can you pls tell me the possible answers in this situations!!
It’s not an uncommon question, and the most normal answers would be “ja” or “nicht wirklich” :)
first question my colleagues ask at work is,
ausgeschlafen??
I dont know what to answer. do they really want to know whether i had a good sleep or it is Little sarcastic.
Hah, good question… they basically want to know if you’re fit and mentally awake. Not really if you slept however long you wanted
Encountered ausschlafen for the first time. Thought of writing a mail. Woke up and the search bar slapped me like, “hey! you mail for little things..” Searched and the result was exactly what I wanted. Read it completely. Enjoyed it as usual. Thanks a lot!!
I’m with person243… It’s easiest to think of it as a form of the expression, “I’m all x-ed out”, where x is the thing you did until you can’t do it any more.
A person who’s all slept out is well-rested, with a brain that’s freshened up and ready to go.
Als ich fast beim Einschlafen war/bin
“am Einschlafen” klingt besser. “beim Einschlafen” klingt sehr aktiv, so als ob du das bewusst steuerst (was ja genau nicht der Fall ist :)
How would you say ‘ Just as i was about to fall asleep’?
Give it a try, then I’ll correct it.
About the prefix “aus-“: I think the “aus” in “ausschlafen” is the same as in “auskurieren”, “ausheilen”, “auslaufen” (not water but a contract), “ausgehen” (not to the disco but the food reserves), “aushalten” and “auswachsen”. You do sth. until you are out of something. The something is “tiredness” for “ausschlafen”, an illness for “auskurieren”, a hurting for “ausheilen”, a legal binding for “auslaufen”, a reserve for “ausgehen”, an unnice situation for “aushalten” and a phase for “auswachsen”.
So a bit of “out” is always in these words. I mean a more precise translation for “to sleep in” would be “in den Tag hinein schlafen”. The “out” is quite sensible here I think. What do you think?
I kind of think that the “aus” in ausschlafen indicates that the person “completed” their sleep cycle without being disturbed by an external source, such as an alarm clock. Like the equivalent of Vollendung in relation to sleep. Not just getting up, but the reaching of the natural culmination of sleep (waking) on one’s own (process plus autonomic experience of process completion). German seems to “think” like this.
That actually kind of ties in with an article I am writing at the moment about what prefixes do in general, like, across languages. This notion of completion is a core aspect of that.
When I read your comment, I had to think of the verb “auslesen” which is a rare word for “reading to the end of a book”. That kind of fits your analysis, too.
How do you say
To fall asleep on someone
To fall asleep on you
I’m not 100% sure what that means… could you put it in context?
draven can, of course, speak for himself, but to me “To fall asleep on someone/you” probably means one of two things:
1) Literally, to fall asleep on top of somebody, maybe resting one’s head on another’s shoulder or something. A cat or a puppy would “fall asleep on me”.
2) To fall asleep when one is supposed to stay awake, maybe with some responsibility toward another. Typically this would be phrased “He was supposed to watch the door, but he fell asleep on me”. For some reason it would sound a little awkward to say it the other way, “I was watching the door, but I fell asleep on you” doesn’t quite sound natural.
Sorry for butting in. I’m just in a commenting mood. I love reading this blog.
Ah … that’s what I figured but I wasn’t sure. So the first version could be translated literally
– Meine Katze schlaft auf mir ein.
As for the second one… there is a construction that kind of works like that
– Er ist mir eingeschlafen.
However, the German version puts much more responsibility on the subject. Like…
– Mein Handy ist mir kaputt gegangen.
– My phone broke (on me)/I broke my phone.
– Die Tür ist mir aufgegangen.
– I accidentally opened the door.
So if we were to use it with “einschlafen” it would sound more like we were responsible for the person staying awake.
If the blame has to be on the other person you’d just say
– Er ist eingeschlafen, obwohl ich gesagt habe, dass er wach bleiben soll
Or something like that :)
Danke.
Ich habe aber noch eine frage. Und zwar bezüglich verschlafen.
Kann man da ein Objekt(Akkusativ) anwenden um auszudrücken was er genau verschlafen hat.
zB. Heute habe ich den Unterricht verschlafen.
Ja, das ist perfekt. Aber es heißt dann, dass du garnicht da warst… also nicht einfach nur, dass du zu spät warst.
Kann ich das folgendes sagen um zu ausdrücken, dass man im Unterricht war aber da geschlafen hat (z.B. weil der Unterricht so langweilig war):
1. Der Unterricht war so langweilig, dass ich eingeschlafen bin und bis zum Ende des Unterricht durchschlafen habe.
2. Heute habe ich den Unterricht durchschlafen.
Oder benutzt man nur “schlafen”? Etwa so…
2. Der Unterricht war so langweilig, dass ich eingeschlafen bin und bis zum Ende des Unterricht geschlafen habe.
Ich habe den Eindruck, dass ich im erster Satz entweder “durchschlafen” oder nur “schlafen” benutzen kann, aber nicht im zweiter…aber bin ich mich nicht so sicher…
1.ist komplett perfekt.
2. Wenn, dann müsstest du “durchgeschlafen” sagen. Mit “durchschlafen” klingt es SEHR literarisch. Das andere Beispiel bei 2. mit “schlafen” alleine ist super. Ich glaube ich würde sagen:
– Ich habe im Unterricht die ganze Zeit geschlafen.
oder
– Ich habe den kompletten/ganzen Unterricht geschlafen (here we have a skipped “lang”).
Es gibt auch noch “verschlafen”, aber da ist nicht klar, ob man vor Ort war, oder nicht.
– Ich habe den halben Film verschlafen (I was there)
– Ich habe heute den Deutschkurs verschlafen (I was at home)
Kann man ausschlafen und verschlafen reflexiv verwenden?
Ich möchte mich endlich mal ausschlafen.
Morgen kannst du dich ausschlafen.
Ich habe mich ausgeschlafen/verschlafen.
“ausschlafen” ja… das ist dann sogar noch etwas mehr als nur “ausschlafen”. “verschlafen” funktioniert aber nicht reflexiv.