Welcome to our Daily English Listening Practice with this week’s series:
14 Common English Expressions
For Sleep and Feeling Sleepy
Today we talk about Common English Expressions for Sleep and Feeling Sleepy. We include 14 common words and phrases that we use a lot in everyday conversation, plus we’ve listed some uncommon or cliche phrases you might find in old English textbooks!
Listen to the audio clips for information and pronunciation.
Knackered/Shattered/Exhausted
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Notes: incredibly tired; knackered / shattered: very British; shattered for physically tired as well as mentally tired
Nod Off
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Notes: when you start to fall asleep, maybe on the couch or at your desk because you’re quite tired; “he just nodded off for a second”
Barely Keep My Eyes Open
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Notes: incredibly tired, could also be used if something is boring and you’re tired of it
Nap / CatNap
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Notes: nap is very common for a short amount of sleep during the day; a catnap is a very quick little nap, sometimes used for kids or something cute
Turn in (early)
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Notes: going to bed; often used with early for going to bed early, not usually used with late; “I think I need to turn in early tonight.”
I passed out
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Notes: pretty informal, going to sleep very quickly after a long or tiring day; not remembering when you fell asleep; “I came home and just passed out.”
Tuck You In
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Notes: usually with children, when you put the blankets around them in bed so that they’ll go to sleep faster; it’s time to get “tucked in”; do you want me to tuck you in?
Went Straight to Sleep
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Notes: when you fall asleep immediately, not remembering when you fell asleep; “I must’ve gone straight to sleep, because I didn’t even set my alarm.”
Tossing and Turning
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Notes: not sleeping peacefully, often moving around in your sleep which causes you to wake up or sleep very poorly
Night Owl / Early Bird
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Notes: night owl: a person who enjoys the evening or has the most energy at night; an early bird enjoys the morningtime or has the most energy in the morning
Sleep in / Have a Lie In
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Notes: USA: I slept in, I like to sleep in, I slept in ‘til 12, I accidentally slept in (slept too late); UK: choose to have a lie in, have a nice lie in
Crack of Dawn
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Notes: the crack of dawn is when the sun starts to rise; 4, 5, 6 in the morning can all be the crack of dawn as it usually means “very early”; very, very informally: the butt crack of dawn (hehe)
Hit Snooze a Few Times
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Notes: hit snooze: to press a button for a small delay for a certain amount of time before your alarm rings again; the verb ‘to snooze’ is an informal word for ‘to sleep’
Won’t Lose Any Sleep Over It
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Notes: *not actually about sleep* I don’t care about it, it won’t stress me out; “She’s mad at me, but I know I’m right so I won’t lose any sleep over it.”
Cliches
Some phrases and expressions you learn at school or in old English textbooks include boring and overused phrases called cliches. You probably won’t sound like a native speaker if you use these phrases:
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Get some shut eye: said sarcastically
Hit the hay/sack: overused
Sleep like a log: instead, sleep like a baby
40 winks: we don’t even know what this means
Catch some Z’s: very American, but we don’t usually say it
Don’t let the bedbugs bite: Sleep tight! Can be condescending, usually said to children
Thanks,
Kat and Mark
