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HSK 1

睡觉

to sleep; to go to bed

verbneutral
睡
shuì4th tone
觉
jiào4th tone

HSK level

1
2
3
4
5
6
Pinyin
shuìjiào
Part of speech
verb
Level
HSK 1
Strokes
22
Register
neutral

Stroke order for 睡觉

睡觉 is written with 22 strokes (睡: 13, 觉: 9). The animation replays automatically.

What does 睡觉 mean?

睡觉 (shuìjiào) is the Chinese verb for 'to sleep' — but structurally it's a verb-object compound: 睡 ('to sleep') + 觉 ('a sleep / a nap,' here pronounced jiào, not jué).

This means 睡觉 already contains its object, so you cannot stick another object directly after it the way English does. To say 'sleep for 8 hours,' you split the compound and insert the duration: 睡八个小时觉 (literally 'sleep eight hours of sleep'). 睡觉 covers both 'to sleep' (the state) and 'to go to bed' (the action of going to lie down).

Common patterns: 去睡觉 ('go to bed'), 在睡觉 ('is sleeping right now'), 睡不着 ('can't fall asleep'). For 'fall asleep' as an event, use 睡着 (shuìzháo). The character 觉 has two readings: jiào ('a sleep') here, and jué in 觉得 ('to feel').

Character by character

睡shuìto sleep (eye radical 目 on the left — drooping eyes)
+
觉jiàoa sleep; a nap (read jué in other contexts like 觉得 'to feel')
=
睡觉

Memory hook: 睡 has the 目 (eye) radical drooping shut — eyes closing into sleep.

Example sentences

我要去睡觉了。

Wǒ yào qù shuìjiào le.

I'm going to bed now.

spoken

他在睡觉。

Tā zài shuìjiào.

He's sleeping.

spoken

你昨天几点睡觉？

Nǐ zuótiān jǐ diǎn shuìjiào?

What time did you go to bed last night?

spoken

孩子们都睡觉了。

Háizimen dōu shuìjiào le.

The children have all gone to sleep.

neutral

Common phrases with 睡觉

去睡觉qù shuìjiàogo to bed
睡个好觉shuì ge hǎo jiàohave a good sleep
睡午觉shuì wǔjiàotake an afternoon nap
睡不着shuì bu zháocan't fall asleep
早睡早起zǎo shuì zǎo qǐearly to bed, early to rise

Synonyms

睡shuì

睡 alone is the bare verb and is used when you need to attach an object or duration: 睡两个小时 ('sleep two hours'). 睡觉 is the everyday standalone verb for 'sleep / go to bed.'

休息xiūxi

休息 means 'to rest' — could be sleeping, lying down, or just taking a break. Use 休息 when you don't specifically mean sleep, or as a polite euphemism.

Don't confuse 睡觉 with

觉得juéde

Same 觉 character, but pronounced jué here, not jiào. 觉得 means 'to feel / think.' 我觉得 ('I think') is unrelated to 睡觉 ('sleep'). One character, two readings — pay attention to context.

睡眠shuìmián

睡眠 is the noun 'sleep' (as in 'quality of sleep') — formal, used in health contexts. 睡觉 is the verb and the daily-life word. Don't say 我去睡眠; say 我去睡觉.

FAQ

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