The German verbs schlafen and einschlafen both relate to the process of sleeping but describe different stages. Schlafen means “to sleep” and refers to being asleep. Einschlafen means “to fall asleep” and refers to the moment when you transition from wakefulness to sleep.

Both verbs come from the root schlafen (to sleep).
Einschlafen adds the prefix ein-, which often means “in” or “into,” indicating the beginning of the action.
German uses separable prefixes, so ein- in einschlafen can move to the end of the sentence in certain tenses (e.g., “Ich schlafe um 22 Uhr ein.”).

Usage

schlafen: Used when someone is already asleep.
einschlafen: Used when someone is in the process of falling asleep.

Examples

German Pronoun	schlafen Example	English Example	einschlafen Example	English Example
Ich	Ich schlafe acht Stunden.	I sleep eight hours.	Ich schlafe um 23 Uhr ein.	I fall asleep at 11 p.m.
Du	Du schläfst tief.	You sleep deeply.	Du schläfst schnell ein.	You fall asleep quickly.
Er/Sie/Es	Sie schläft schon.	She is already sleeping.	Er schläft im Auto ein.	He falls asleep in the car.

Du schläfst schnell ein.

You are sleeping quickly.

You fall asleep quickly.

You sleep quickly.

You wake up quickly.

You fall asleep quickly.

einschlafen is used here to describe how quickly the person transitions into sleep.

Common Phrases

German Phrase	English Translation
Ich kann nicht schlafen.	I can’t sleep.
Ich bin eingeschlafen.	I fell asleep.
Er schläft tief.	He sleeps deeply.
Wann bist du eingeschlafen?	When did you fall asleep?
Wir schlafen früh.	We sleep early.
Sie schläft ein, während sie liest.	She falls asleep while reading.

“Ich kann nicht schlafen” means “I can’t sleep,” indicating difficulty with schlafen.
“Ich bin eingeschlafen” uses the perfect tense of einschlafen, showing a completed action of falling asleep.
Ask “Wann bist du eingeschlafen?” to inquire about the time someone fell asleep.

If you want to describe the entire sleeping process, you might say:

Ich schlafe um 23 Uhr ein und schlafe bis 7 Uhr.

(This means, “I fall asleep at 11 p.m. and sleep until 7 a.m.”)

Wir schlafen früh.

We wake up early.

We sleep early.

We fall asleep early.

We stay up late.

We sleep early.

Schlafen is used to describe the general habit of going to sleep early.

Summary

Use schlafen to talk about the state of sleeping.
Use einschlafen to talk about the moment of falling asleep.
einschlafen is reflexive in meaning but is not used with a reflexive pronoun.
The prefix ein- is separable and moves to the end of the clause in many tenses.

Flashcards (1 of 9)

schlafen Example: Ich schlafe acht Stunden.
einschlafen Example: Ich schlafe um 23 Uhr ein.

English Example: I fall asleep at 11 p.m.

Last updated: Wed Jun 18, 2025

German