Breakdown of Entspann dich und schlaf gut.
und
and
gut
good / well
schlafen
to sleep
sich entspannen
to relax
Questions & Answers about Entspann dich und schlaf gut.
How are the commands entspann and schlaf formed?
To make a command for one person you know well (the informal du form), you take the regular present tense du conjugation and remove the -st ending, as well as the pronoun du. For example, du entspannst loses the -st, leaving just the command entspann.
The du form of schlafen is du schläfst. Why doesn't the command schlaf have an umlaut (ä)?
Good eye! There is a special rule for the imperative: if a strong verb changes its vowel from a to ä in the du form (like schlafen or fahren), it loses that umlaut in the command form. So schläfst drops both the -st ending and the umlaut, becoming schlaf.
Why is there a dich after entspann? Doesn't that mean "relax yourself"?
Exactly! In German, the verb for "to relax" is sich entspannen, which is a reflexive verb. This means the action reflects back on the person doing it, and you always have to include a reflexive pronoun. Since you are talking to "you" informally, you must use the matching pronoun dich ("yourself").
Why isn't the word du anywhere in this sentence?