3 Useful Ways to Say Sleep in Spanish

Oh, to sleep! It is one of the most important things we can do for ourselves daily. Well, if you are studying Spanish or even just curious about the language, you may wonder how to say sleep in Spanish. Well, in this post, you’ll learn all about how to say sleep in Spanish – as a verb, a noun, and a command. We’ll also share some interesting Spanish expressions that use sleep! Rest assured, we will not put you to sleep!

All the Ways to Say Sleep in Spanish

To Sleep – Verb

First and foremost, we have the act of sleeping, the verb, “to sleep”. In Spanish, the word is dormir . Its usage and context is identical to the way it’s used in English. Let’s see some examples!

Similar to English, you need to conjugate the verb, dormir based on the subject. Feel free to reference the table below for conjugations for the two most common cases for beginners, the present tense and the past preterite tense.

Subject Pronoun	Past Tense	Present Tense
Yo I	dormí	duermo
Tú You (informal)	dormiste	duermes
Él/Ella/Usted He/She/You (formal)	durmió	duerme
Nosotros Us	dormimos	dormimos
Vosotros You (plural, informal)	dormisteis	dormís
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes Them(masc)/Them(fem)/You(plural)	durmieron	duermen

Sleep – Noun

We also have “sleep” as a noun, which in Spanish is sueño . It is a masculine word.

Sueño also means “dream” in Spanish. Which can be a little confusing if you hear someone saying Tuve un sueño contigo. By the context, you would know that they mean “I had a dream of you” and not “I had a sleep of you”.

Related topic: 7 Exhaustive Ways to say Tired in Spanish

Sleepy – Adverb

The adjective “sleepy” in English could be translated as somnoliento in Spanish, which is a direct and accurate translation.

However, we don’t use somnoliento as often as we use “sleepy” in English. Instead, when we want to say “I’m sleepy”, in Spanish, we actually use the noun sueño again to say tengo sueño. For example:

How to say go to sleep in Spanish

It is common for parents or other adults to say “Go to sleep” to children when it’s their bedtime. And if we want to do it in Spanish, we will say Ve a dormir .

Ve a dormir is actually a command/order in Spanish, but, as you can see from the above examples, depending on the tone you use to say it, it can be said sweetly or angrily.

Related topic: 14 Conversational Ways to Say Good Night in Spanish

Expressions related to sleep

In Spanish, we also have many expressions we can use related to sleep. Let’s have a look at some of the most popular ones

Expression	Example Sentence
Irse a dormir To go to sleep	Ya me voy a dormir. ¡Buenas noches! I’m going to sleep. Good night!
Ir a la cama To go to bed	¿Vamos a la cama? Ya estoy cansado. Should we go to bed? I’m already tired.
Dormir profundo Sleep deeply	Cuando duermo muy profundo, es imposible despertarme. When I sleep deeply, it’s impossible to wake me up.
Quitar el sueño To lose sleep over something	Su decisión no me quita el sueño. I don’t lose sleep over his decision.
No pegar un ojo To not sleep a wink	No pegué un ojo en toda la noche. I didn’t sleep a wink all night.
Consultarlo con la almohada a To sleep on it	No sé qué decisión tomar, mejor lo consulto con la almohada. I don’t know what to decide, I better sleep on it.
No dormir nada To not sleep at all	Los vecinos hacían ruido y no pude dormir nada. The neighbors were making noise and I couldn’t sleep at all.
Dar sueño Make someone sleepy	Comer me da sueño. Eating makes me sleepy
Hacer dormir a alguien Put somebody to sleep	Pude hacer dormir a la bebé. I could put the baby to sleep.
¡Qué duermas bien! Sleep tight!	Adiós, ¡qué duermas bien! Bye, sleep tight!
Soñar despierto To daydream	¿Qué dijiste? Perdón, estaba soñando despierta. What did you say? Sorry, I was daydreaming.
Dormir la siesta To take a nap	Estoy cansada, dormiré una siesta. I’m tired, I’ll take a nap.
Dormir como una piedra To sleep like a log	Ayer dormí como una piedra, no te escuché llegar. Yesterday I slept like a log, I didn’t hear you coming.
Quedarse dormido To fall asleep	Me quedé dormido mientras el profesor hablaba. I fell asleep while the professor was talking.
Dormir con un ojo abierto To sleep with one eye open	Desde que me robaron, duermo con un ojo abierto. Since I was robbed, I sleep with one eye open.
Caer redondo del sueño To go out like a light	Ayer estaba tan cansado que caí redondo del sueño. I was so tired yesterday that I went out like a light.
Dulces sueños Sweet dreams	¡Dulces sueños! Descansa. Sweet dreams! Have a good night’s rest.
Dormir como un bebé To sleep like a baby	Estaba tan cansada que dormí como un bebé. I was so tired that I slept like a baby.
Dormir con alguien To sleep with someone	Dormí con ella anoche. I slept with her last night.