Breakdown of Da poliziotto, non dormi la notte.
non
not
la notte
the night
dormire
to sleep
da
as a (child/teenager), when one was
Questions & Answers about Da poliziotto, non dormi la notte.
Why is it da poliziotto instead of come poliziotto?
When indicating a role, profession, or life stage, Italian uses the preposition da. While come also means 'as' or 'like', using da specifically means 'in the role of' or 'acting as'.
Should there be an article, like da un poliziotto?
Who is dormi (you sleep) referring to here?
Why does the sentence use la notte to mean 'at night'?
Using the definite article with a part of the day (like la notte or la mattina) is a common way to express a recurring time or habit. You could also use the preposition di and say di notte here, which means exactly the same thing.