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I am trying to write a conversation between a doctor and his patient for an assignment. I'd like for the doctor to ask the patient about how much sleep he gets in a day.

Here are my attempts:

  • Wie lange schlafen Sie pro Tag?
  • Schlafen Sie wenigstens 8 Stunden pro Tag?

My question is, would it be more appropriate to use "am Tag" in place of "pro Tag"? I've seen both being used in the same context and am confused on when to use which. Please help!

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As a native speaker I'd say that in that context (doctor-patient-conversation) they can be both used, there's hardly any difference. "Pro Tag" is maybe sliiiightly more technical, i.e. "Wie viele Seiten druckt der Drucker pro Tag?"

Another option would be using "täglich", e.g. "wie viele Äpfel essen Sie täglich?"

Edit: Reconsidering, I have reread the questions, and for these two particular ones I would say

  • "Wie lange schlafen Sie pro Tag?" (Because using "am Tag" could be misinterpreted as sleeping during the day, which is a second meaning of "am Tag".)
  • "Schlafen Sie wenigstens 8 Stunden täglich?" (For the same reason.)
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    No offence intended, but you don't need to state in every answer that you are a native speaker - I happen to know some non-native speakers of German that are much more proficient at the language than I am......
    – tofro
    Mar 26, 2016 at 10:15
  • Thanks! Going by this interpretation and supposing the doctor wanted to know the patient's workload instead, would "Wie lange arbeiten Sie täglich/am Tag/pro Tag?" all be acceptable? Under the assumption that people work in the day, I can't find any difference between the three options.
    – jessica
    Mar 26, 2016 at 14:06
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    yep, all three acceptable, but with subtile differences: täglich I'd consider kind of formal, pro Tag could only be answered like "eight hours", while both täglich (less) and am Tag (more) could be answered like "eight hours" and "I go home at five". ("Wie lange" could ask both for "how many hours" and "up to what time" like in English.)
    – tofro
    Mar 26, 2016 at 14:19
  • @tofro: Ok, geht in Ordnung. Ich dachte es wäre hilfreich zu wissen, wer die Sprache "lebt", und wer sie vielleicht "nur" gelernt hat. Gerade bei Fragen, bei denen es ganz subtile Unterschiede gibt, oder bei denen nach umgangssprachlichen Aspekten gefragt wurde, würde es mir als Fragesteller bei der Bewertung der Antworten helfen - ganz objektiv. Mir lag es fern, hier irgendetwas herauszukehren oder überheblich zu wirken. Sorry, wenn das misinterpretiert werden konnte/wurde; ich werde es zukünftig sein lassen.
    – Thomas
    Mar 26, 2016 at 17:08
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    @tofro: Lach, nein, so war's nicht gemeint. Aber ich hab deinen Hinweis verstanden, belassen wir's dabei :-) Frohe Ostern!
    – Thomas
    Mar 26, 2016 at 18:01
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Pro Tag ist etwas besser, weil es nicht missverstanden werden kann, denn am Tag könnte auch bedeuten, dass die Person tagsüber schläft, nicht nachts, was für pro Tag weniger gilt. Solange das Tag aber nicht betont wird, geht auch am Tag.

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