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A quick Google search shows that the phrase seems to be in relatively common usage, but for some reason I find the construct very awkward.

I would say "fall asleep" the first time, and then "fall back to sleep" if awakened.

Saying "fall back asleep" sounds wrong to me in a similar way to "(I tripped but am) back running". Is something wrong with the tense? A case of "coming back to the present"?

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    Nothing incorrect per se. It's perfectly acceptable and makes sense in the appropriate context. Related: english.stackexchange.com/q/131778/14666 That may help understand the usage.
    – Kris
    Commented Dec 21, 2013 at 7:44

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I can't see any reason to dispute the grammaticality of fall back asleep, but two things that did (mildly) surprise me when I looked into usage patterns were:-

  1. It's almost as common as fall back to sleep (which version sounds far more natural to me).
  2. Both usages were relatively uncommon until just a few decades ago.

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(I see no evidence of any significant US/UK split in terms of either preference or prevalence.)

My guess is that both OP and myself find the asleep version less acceptable because it doesn't fit the same pattern as go back to sleep (where go back asleep is virtually unknown).

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  • I wonder if there is in fact a US/UK split, or some other regional distinction. In my case (southern US), "fall back asleep" seems more familiar/natural, and "fall back to sleep" is the "odd" one (in spite of "go back to sleep" seeming perfectly natural).
    – pyobum
    Commented Aug 8, 2016 at 14:38
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    @pyobum: Toggling between the two corpuses doesn't suggest any significant UK/US difference, as mentioned in the answer. But it occurs to me another reason I might find to sleep more consistent is because nobody likes get back asleep either. Despite the fact that total instances of asleep, to sleep, and sleeping are all about equally common both sides of the pond.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Aug 8, 2016 at 16:21
  • You can't analyse grammaticality of candidate variants of idioms other than by examining usage. 'Fall to sleep' is an idiom (it has to be 'fall into unconsciousness', not 'fall to unconscious/ness'), and 'fall to sleep' and 'fast asleep' are fine while trying to amalgamate them doesn't work.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Aug 3, 2021 at 11:30
  • @EdwinAshworth Did you mean that "fall to sleep" is not idiomatic? Google Ngrams shows that "fall asleep" is far more prevalent.
    – Rosie F
    Commented Aug 3, 2021 at 12:00
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    ...and as this NGram shows, what little currency He fell to sleep has is basically as an extremely minority C20 usage.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Aug 3, 2021 at 13:11
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I would argue that it is "back" that calls for "to", in the same way that "out" calls for "of". Probably due to the fact that back is usually used with verbs of motion I always use back To sleep

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Saying "fall back asleep" sounds wrong to me.

This is an idiosyncrasy: there is nothing wrong with it.

How do you feel about this identical construction?

“He went to town and came back drunk.” In which “drunk” is the same adjectival free modifier as “asleep” is in your example.

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    That doesn't look like the same construction at all. "He came back drunk" means "he came back, and he was drunk when he came back." "He fell back asleep" does not mean "he fell back, and he was asleep when he fell back."
    – Sophie Swett
    Commented Sep 20, 2021 at 14:54
  • @Sophie Swett It does look like the same construction. It would be as if it were saying, "He awoke and fell back asleep". It's the same as. "He went to town and came back drunk". (I'm sorry I can't figure out how this websites commenting works. I was trying to reply to the comments at the bottom of the page.)
    – EACurrent
    Commented Nov 18 at 17:42
  • @EACurrent Well, I'm not sure why you call it the same construction; the two constructions produce different kinds of meanings. To me, it seems like "came back drunk" is "came back" modified by "drunk," whereas "fell back asleep" is "fell asleep" modified by "back." [thanks @Edwin]
    – Sophie Swett
    Commented Nov 18 at 18:55
  • @EACurrent (1) I've converted your comment to a 'comment'; it addresses another comment rather than the question proper. // (2) Sophie is almost correct; ' ... came back drunk' uses what is arguably a multi-word verb (come back = return) in a subject-orientated depictive construction, with 'drunk' an adjective describing 'his' state when he came back. But 'He fell back asleep' uses adverbial 'back' to modify 'fall asleep' (which again, some would see as unary: compare 'wake up' = 'awaken' [intransitive, here]. Or perhaps to modify 'asleep'. The positioning of the adverb is odd.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Nov 18 at 19:04

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