schläfst

Schläfst is the second-person singular present indicative form of the German verb schlafen, meaning to sleep. It is used when addressing someone informally (du). The base verb schlafen is irregular and shows vowel change in the present tense.

In present tense, schlafen forms as ich schlafe, du schläfst, er schläft; wir schlafen, ihr schlaft, sie schlafen. This umlaut pattern (a to ä) is characteristic of the second and third person singular forms. The past participle is geschlafen, and the simple past second-person singular is schliefst. The form schläfst cannot be used as an imperative; the imperative for du is Schlaf!

Usage notes: schläfst denotes a current state or habitual action related to sleep. It is commonly used with time expressions such as jetzt (now), gerade (right now), or heute Nacht (tonight). In questions, one might say: Schläfst du gut? In negation: Du schläfst nicht. In formal writing or speech, the formal address Sie uses Schlafen or Sie schlafen, with Sie capitalized.

Etymology and relatives: schlafen is of Germanic origin and has cognates in Dutch slapen and English sleep. The word reflects common patterns of vowel change and inflection in German strong verbs.

See also: schlafen, irregular verb conjugation, German present tense.