dormir

To sleep. Irregular with a double stem change: o→ue in the present (duermo) and o→u in the preterite third person (durmió) and the gerund (durmiendo). Reflexive dormirse means to fall asleep.

• Duermo ocho horas cada noche. — I sleep eight hours every night.
• Anoche me dormí viendo la tele. — Last night I fell asleep watching TV.
• El bebé durmió toda la noche. — The baby slept all night.

Using dormir when you mean 'to fall asleep'. Me dormí is the moment of falling asleep; dormí is the whole period of sleeping. Also avoid *dormió* — it is durmió.

Often confused with dormitar.

• expression Dormirse en los laureles — A common Spanish idiom meaning to rest on one's laurels, i.e. to stop making an effort because of past success. Dictionaries such as Cambridge and Collins list it with that meaning.