sleepless
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sleepless
Describing the state in which you cannot sleep, even though you are tired or want to sleep.
Wegen des Lärms und der Sorgen lag er die ganze Nacht schlaflos im Bett.
Because of the noise and his worries, he lay sleepless in bed all night.
The word consists of 'der Schlaf' (sleep) and the ending '-los' (-less), which means 'without'. 'Schlaflos' (sleepless) therefore literally means 'without sleep'. You can find this ending in many other words such as 'hoffnungslos' (hopeless) or 'arbeitslos' (unemployed).
Nach dem starken Kaffee war er die halbe Nacht schlaflos.
After the strong coffee, he was sleepless for half the night.
A very common and fixed combination is 'eine schlaflose Nacht' (a sleepless night). You can say 'eine schlaflose Nacht haben' (to have a sleepless night) or 'eine schlaflose Nacht verbringen' (to spend a sleepless night).
Vor der wichtigen Prüfung hatte ich eine schlaflose Nacht.
Before the important exam, I had a sleepless night.
To state the reason for sleeplessness, the prepositions 'vor' are often used with emotions and 'wegen' with external causes.
Sie war schlaflos vor Aufregung.
She was sleepless with excitement.
awake / alert
Wach simply describes the state of not being asleep. Schlaflos, by contrast, emphasizes that someone is tired or wants to sleep but cannot. If you are only stating the current state, say wach; when someone has tried unsuccessfully to sleep, schlaflos is the more precise choice.
Um drei Uhr lag ich schlaflos im Bett und wollte endlich einschlafen.
At three o'clock, I was lying sleepless in bed, wanting to finally fall asleep.
Um drei Uhr war ich noch wach und las ein Buch.
At three o'clock, I was still awake and reading a book.
