2

Can "ausschlafen" mean "to sleep in" (i.e. to sleep until later in the morning than you usually do)?

Word Reference and DeepL translator say so, but I don't see that meaning in Duden or DWDS.

1 Answer 1

6

Ausschlafen really means 'to sleep until you're not tired anymore' as defined by Duden and DWDS. Since this requires a certain amount of tiredness, ausschlafen implies sleeping longer than in the nights the tiredness arose from, but not necessarily getting up later than usual. For people of the 'lark' chronotype, e.g., it might mean going to bed early. Accordingly, ausgeschlafen means 'well-rested' and not 'having slept late'. Thus, to sleep in and ausschlafen are probably not entirely equivalent.

Most people, however, would arguably associate ausschlafen with getting up late, so ausschlafen can indeed (and often does) mean getting up later than usual.

4
  • 1
    I'd like to add, that in both cases, sleep in and ausschlafen you are probably not setting an alarm clock, implying sleep as long as you can. Sep 3, 2020 at 17:23
  • 2
    The proper translation of to sleep in in the sense of "not waking up on time" is verschlafen (intransitive). E. g. *Ich kam zu spät zur Arbeit, weil ich verschlafen habe".
    – RHa
    Sep 4, 2020 at 6:53
  • Oh, ich kannte "Sleep In" bislang nur von John Lennon und Yoko Ono und hielt es für eine politische Protestform, ähnlich wie ein Teach In oder Sit In - wahrscheinlich ist aber meine Vorstellung zu letzteren Beiden auf analoge Weise falsch. Sep 4, 2020 at 15:05
  • @RHa I'd say the proper translation of verschlafen is to oversleep, but that wasn't asked here. Sep 4, 2020 at 16:39

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.