How to Say I Fell Asleep in Portuguese (and I Overslept)

To say I fell asleep in Portuguese, here in Brazil we say "peguei no sono", "caí no sono" or "acabei dormindo", and in a more casual tone "apaguei" or "capotei". What you'll almost never hear from us Brazilians is "eu fiquei dormido": it's a word-for-word translation that sounds pretty strange to a native ear.

English already does something Portuguese does too: it separates falling asleep from oversleeping. If you fall asleep in Portuguese while binge-watching a show, you say "peguei no sono vendo série". But if you slept through your alarm and showed up late for work, the way to say overslept in Portuguese is "perdi a hora" or "dormi demais".

What about being asleep in Portuguese? We don't have a handy adjective like "asleep". To say I'm asleep in Portuguese, we use the gerund, the same form you use for sleeping in Portuguese: "tô dormindo". And good news: all of these expressions work the same for men and women, so there's no dormido or dormida headache.

Below I'll walk you through the most natural ways to talk about sleep in Portuguese, from "vou dormir" (how we say go to sleep in Portuguese) to the slang we use with friends, each with a real sentence so you can practice it the way we actually speak in Brazil.

Video: Different Ways to Say I Fell Asleep in Portuguese

In this video I show you, with real examples, the most natural ways to say I fell asleep in Portuguese, just like we use them in Brazil. Pay close attention to how "peguei no sono" and "capotei" are pronounced, because those are the ones you'll hear most in everyday conversation.

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Portuguese Phrases to Practice

These are the expressions we use in Brazil to talk about falling asleep in Portuguese, each with a real sentence to practice. They range from neutral, like "adormecer", to very casual, like "capotar" or "apagar geral", so check the context before you use them.

ENCOSTAR / ESCORAR / DEITAR

In Brazil we use encostar, escorar and deitar to say someone fell asleep the moment they leaned back or lay down. "Encostar" and "escorar" mean leaning against something, like the couch or a wall, while "deitar" means lying down all the way.

• Ela tá malhando tanto na academia que quando chegou se encostou no sofá e dormiu.
• O irmão dela não pode se escorar em qualquer canto que dorme, eu nunca vi uma pessoa pra dormir tanto.
• A mãe dele se deitou assim que chegou em casa, ela tava muito cansada.

Different ways to say I'M SORE in Portuguese.

PEGAR NO SONO

"Pegar no sono" is the most common way to say I fell asleep in Portuguese: "peguei no sono" simply means "I fell asleep", and it doesn't change for men or women. It's the expression I'd tell you to learn first, because it works in almost any situation.

• Acho melhor você dormir um pouco antes de viajar tão tarde hoje à noite, é capaz de você pegar no sono ao volante.

Different ways to use PEGAR in Portuguese.

CAIR NO SONO

"Cair no sono" means dropping off to sleep suddenly, almost without noticing, and it sounds a bit more formal than "pegar no sono". That's why you'll see it a lot in the news and in written texts, like in the example sentence.

• O motorista do caminhão caiu no sono enquanto dirigia na rodovia e causou um acidente muito grave, duas pessoas morreram no local.

Different ways to say DIE in Portuguese.

CAPOTAR

"Capotar" is the most casual way to say you crashed from sheer exhaustion, like a car flipping over. We Brazilians use it with friends: "capotei" means you hit the bed and were dead to the world.

• Cara, que loucura de festa, quando voltei pra casa só fiz cair na cama e capotei, só acordei no outro dia à tarde e ainda tava com ressaca.

The stages of getting drunk in Portuguese.

COCHILAR

"Cochilar" means to doze or nod off, those minutes when your head keeps dropping but you never reach a deep sleep. It's the perfect verb for the bus, long meetings or classes that never seem to end, and it goes great with the ways to say I'm bored in Portuguese.

• Eu não sei como esse cara conseguiu se formar no curso, eu lembro que ele só fazia cochilar nas aulas da universidade.

APAGAR / APAGAR GERAL

"Apagar" means falling into a deep sleep, like a light switching off, and "apagar geral" takes it to the extreme: sleeping so hard that not even the alarm can wake you up. It's very casual and very Brazilian, a lot like saying "I was out cold" in English.

• Do jeito que eu tô cansado hoje quando eu chegar em casa eu vou apagar geral.

Different ways to use GERAL in Portuguese.

ADORMECER

"Adormecer" is the most neutral and formal verb for falling asleep in Portuguese, and it shares its root with the English word "dormant". Heads up: just like in English, it also describes a body part going numb, so "meu braço adormeceu" means "my arm fell asleep".

• Se você adormecer nessa posição vai acabar dando um jeito no braço.

Different ways to use JEITO.

PERDER A HORA / DORMIR DEMAIS

When you want to say you overslept and ended up late, in Brazil we say "perdi a hora" or "dormi demais", never "peguei no sono". English makes this easy because "fell asleep" and "overslept" are already two different things, so just keep that same split in Portuguese.

• Desculpa o atraso, chefe, perdi a hora hoje, o despertador não tocou.
• Ela dormiu demais e acabou perdendo o voo pra Salvador.

Bonus Content

Besides the ways to say I fell asleep, here are other words about sleep in Brazilian Portuguese you'll need: sono, sonho, pesadelo and soneca. We use them every day in Brazil, and a couple of them trip up a lot of learners.

The Difference Between SONO vs SONHO

"Sono" is sleep, or that sleepy feeling, and "sonho" is what you dream while you're asleep. English already has two separate words (sleep and dream), so the real trap is the spelling: the NH in "sonho" sounds like the "ny" in "canyon". If you want to practice it in depth, I have a full guide on the difference between sono and sonho.

Tenho muito sono mas estou com medo de dormir e ter aquele sonho horrível que tive uns dias atrás.

The book in Portuguese: "Por que nós dormimos" (the Brazilian edition of Why We Sleep) on Amazon Brazil.

PESADELO

"Pesadelo" means nightmare, and in Brazil we use it just like in English: for a bad dream or, figuratively, for a horrible situation. The natural way to say it is "tive um pesadelo" (I had a nightmare), not "sonhei um pesadelo".

• Nossa, que pesadelo horrível que tive hoje de madrugada, acordei com o coração batendo a mil.

Learn 27 expressions with BATER.

TIRAR UMA SONECA

"Tirar uma soneca" means taking a short nap, like a quick power nap after lunch. Unlike "cochilar", this nap is on purpose: you decide to lie down for a bit to recharge.

• Vou tirar uma soneca de uns 20 minutos depois de almoçar.

15 expressions with the verb TIRAR in Portuguese.

Quotes and Phrases with ADORMECER in Portuguese

Reading quotes by Brazilian authors is a very natural way to see the verb "adormecer" in context. This one by Clarice Lispector shows its most poetic side: falling asleep in peace, far from the world's problems.

“Somente uma coisa me faria bem agora. Seria adormecer com a cabeça no seu colo, você me dizendo bobagenzinhas gostosas para eu esquecer a ruindade do mundo.”
― Clarice Lispector

On the O Pensador website you'll find more examples with the verb ADORMECER.

Write your favorite phrases down in a notebook so you can review them often.