Definition
睡着 (shuì zháo) means 'to fall asleep' or 'to be asleep'. It's a resultative verb compound composed of 睡 (to sleep) and 着 (zháo, a resultative complement indicating the action has achieved its result). The negative form is 睡不着 (shuì bù zháo, 'can't fall asleep'), and the potential form inserts 得 or 不 between the two characters to express ability or inability. Note that 着 is read zháo here, not zhe, which is the aspect particle.
r.v.
to fall asleepto be asleep
Examples
- 睡着。Wǒ zuówǎn hěn kuài jiù shuì zháo le.I fell asleep quickly last night.
- 睡着,。Tā yǐjīng shuì zháo le, bié chǎoxǐng tā.He's already asleep — don't wake him up.
- ,。Wǒ zuótiān tài xīngfèn, zěnme yě shuì bú zháo.I was too excited yesterday and simply couldn't fall asleep.
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