schlaft

Schlaft is the second-person plural present indicative form of the German verb schlafen, used with the pronoun ihr. It is also the imperative form when addressing a group, yielding sentences like Schlaft gut! In ordinary present-tense usage, you would say Ihr schlaft viel to mean you all sleep a lot. The imperative Schlaft! is commonly used to tell several people to sleep or to rest together.

In terms of spelling and pronunciation, the form schlaft contains no umlaut, whereas the singular du form is schläfst and the third-person singular er schläft, both of which include an umlaut. This reflects the historical vowel alternations that occur in German verb conjugation. The ich form is schlafe and the wir form schlafen, so schlaft sits in between as the zweite Person Plural form.

Etymology and related forms place Schlafen within the broader Germanic family. Schlafen derives from Old High German slāfan and ultimately from Proto-Germanic roots connected to sleep. Cognate verbs exist in related languages, such as Dutch slapen and English sleep, which share a common origin for the concept of sleeping, though their modern forms differ due to separate sound changes.

Usage notes: schlaft appears in informal speech among groups addressed as ihr, as opposed to the formal Sie-Form schlafen Sie in polite contexts. The noun Schlaf, meaning “sleep,” is etymologically related but distinct in spelling and usage. As a verb, schlaft functions in daily conversation, instructions, and literary dialogue in German.