sein says what something is. werden says what something is becoming. bleiben says what something stays. It is the third copula verb, and like sein, it does two jobs: one as a copula verb that keeps both sides of the sentence in the Nominativ, and one as a verb that, unusually, takes sein as its own auxiliary in the Perfekt.
The forms: Präsens
bleiben is a strong verb, but its Präsens is completely regular. The stem bleib- doesn't change, only the endings do.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| ich | bleibe |
| du | bleibst |
| er · sie · es | bleibt |
| wir | bleiben |
| ihr | bleibt |
| sie · Sie | bleiben |
The forms: Präteritum
In the past, bleiben is irregular: the stem vowel changes from ei to ie. blieb is common in both speech and writing, unlike most verbs where Perfekt dominates in conversation.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| ich | blieb |
| du | bliebst |
| er · sie · es | blieb |
| wir | blieben |
| ihr | bliebt |
| sie · Sie | blieben |
Job 1: copula verb
Like sein → bleiben can link the subject to a predicate noun. Nothing transfers to an object, so nothing changes case. Both sides stay in the Nominativ. The difference from sein is only in meaning: sein says what something is, bleiben says it stays that way.
- Er bleibtmein Freund. (He stays my friend.)
- Sie bleibtdie Chefin. (She stays the boss.)
- Das bleibtein Geheimnis. (That stays a secret.)
Run the equals-sign test from the copula verbs article → er → mein Freund sie → die Chefin das → ein Geheimnis. If the sentence still makes sense with an equals sign, both sides are Nominativ, no exceptions for bleiben either.
bleiben + adjective
Far more often, bleiben links the subject to a predicate adjective, not a noun. An adjective carries no case, so it does not merge into a Nominativ pair with the verb. The verb and the adjective stay as separate, un-merged boxes.
- Das Wetter bleibt schön. (The weather stays nice.)
- Er bleibt ruhig. (He stays calm.)
- Wir bleiben gesund. (We stay healthy.)
Same verb, same meaning, different partner. A noun after bleiben pairs up with it in yellow. An adjective after bleiben stays gray, on its own.
Job 2: bleiben in Perfekt
bleiben also has a Job 2, and it's a curious one: in the Perfekt, bleiben takes sein as its auxiliary, the same way movement verbs like gehen or fahren do, even though staying somewhere is the opposite of moving. German groups it with sein's "extras" for exactly this reason.
- Wir sind drei Tage geblieben. (We stayed for three days.)
- Ich bin zu Hause geblieben. (I stayed home.)
- Sie ist über Nacht geblieben. (She stayed overnight.)
The auxiliary sind → ist carries no case of its own here, it is purely structural. geblieben carries no case either, bleiben has no object to color-match.
The fixed phrase: bleiben + bei
One more common pattern → bleiben bei + Dativ, meaning "to stick to" or "to stay with" an idea, plan, or decision. bei is a Dativ preposition, so the noun phrase after it is blue.
- Er bleibt beiseiner Meinung. (He sticks to his opinion.)
- Wir bleiben beiunserem Plan. (We're sticking with our plan.)
bleiben completes the copula verb trio. As a copula verb with a predicate noun, both sides stay Nominativ, just like sein. With a predicate adjective, the adjective stays gray and unmerged. In the Perfekt, bleiben unexpectedly takes sein → ist + geblieben.