眠(ねむ)い

ねむい

adjective (i-adjective)

sleepy

Conjugation

	Affirmative	Negative
Present	眠(ねむ)い	眠(ねむ)くない
Past	眠(ねむ)かった	眠(ねむ)くなかった
て form	眠(ねむ)くて	眠(ねむ)くなくて
Adverbial	眠(ねむ)く	—
Conditional ば	眠(ねむ)ければ	眠(ねむ)くなければ
Conditional たら	眠(ねむ)かったら	眠(ねむ)くなかったら

1. sleepy, drowsy

Feeling the need or desire to sleep. The state of being tired and wanting to sleep.

とても眠(ねむ)いです。

I'm very sleepy.

昨日(きのう)よく眠(ねむ)れなかったから眠(ねむ)いです。

I'm sleepy because I couldn't sleep well yesterday.

眠(ねむ)くなってきました。

I'm getting sleepy.

～くなる for becoming

朝(あさ)から眠(ねむ)くて、仕事(しごと)ができませんでした。

I was sleepy since morning and couldn't do my work.

子供(こども)たちは夜(よる)遅(おそ)くまで遊(あそ)んでいたので、今日(きょう)はとても眠(ねむ)そうな顔(かお)をしています。

The children were playing until late at night, so today they have very sleepy faces.

眠(ねむ)そう = looks sleepy

眠(ねむ)い is an i-adjective describing the state of feeling sleepy or drowsy.

FORMS:

Verb: 眠(ねむ)る (to sleep)
Noun: 眠(ねむ)り (sleep), 眠(ねむ)さ (sleepiness)
Adverb: 眠(ねむ)く (眠(ねむ)くなる = to become sleepy)

COMMON EXPRESSIONS:

眠(ねむ)くなる: to become sleepy
眠(ねむ)そう: to look sleepy
とても眠(ねむ)い: very sleepy
眠(ねむ)くて仕方(しかた)ない: so sleepy I can't help it
眠(ねむ)い目(め)をこする: to rub sleepy eyes

KANJI COMPOUNDS:

SIMILAR WORDS:

疲(つか)れた: tired (physical exhaustion)
だるい: sluggish, listless
眠(ねむ)たい: sleepy (variant, slightly more casual)

NOTE:
眠(ねむ)い specifically describes wanting to sleep, while 疲(つか)れた is about physical/mental exhaustion. You can be 疲(つか)れた without being 眠(ねむ)い, and vice versa.

Related Words

Related: 眠(ねむ)る (to sleep (verb))

Synonym: ねむたい (sleepy (colloquial))

basic

Added 2026.1.7 21:24 · Revised 2026.5.13 8:06

00500/00872_nemui