bli

Short form of blive, from Danish blive, from Middle Low German bliven. Meanings 2, 3 and 4 are taken from Old Norse verða, which also has given rise to the dated vorde. In several dialects, the Low German word did not displace the Old Norse word completely. As a result, vart was allowed in past tense besides ble(i) between 1938 and 2005.

Verb[edit]

bli (imperative bli, present tense blir, simple past ble or blei, past participle blitt, present participle blivende)

to stay, remain.
Hva sier du til å bli hjemme i stedet for å gå på den dumme festen?
How about staying home instead of going to that stupid party?

Du blir her!
You stay here!
(as an auxiliary verb to create passive voice with the main verb in past participle) to be
To personer ble arrestert for tyveri i går.
Two people were arrested for theft yesterday.

Hun ble grepet av angst.
She was gripped with fear.
(change, development over time) to become, get, go.
Det blir jo bare verre!
It keeps getting worse!

Øhm, er det bare meg, eller begynner du å bli skallet?
Erm, is it just me, or are you going bald?
to be, become, will, going to, turn out,
Når jeg blir stor skal jeg bli lege.
When I grow up, I'm going to be a doctor.

Festen ble en suksess!
The party turned out to be/was a success!
(bills and payments) to be, come to
Det blir 25 kroner.
That's 25 kroner

Synonyms[edit]

(to stay, remain): bestå, dvele, forbli, vedbli, vedvare
(to become, get, be): forme seg, forvandle seg, fremkomme/framkomme, føre til, lede til, oppstå, utvikle seg, vokse seg, vorde
(bills and payment; to be): beløpe seg til, koste

Derived terms[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

From Danish blive and Middle Low German bliven. A short and juxtaposed form of blive.

Alternative forms[edit]

blive (juxtaposed form)

Verb[edit]

bli (imperative bli, present tense blir, simple past blev or bleiv, past participle blitt, present participle blivende)

(archaic, dialect) to drown
Han falt over bord og bleiv.
He fell over board and drowned.

Synonyms[edit]

drukne

References[edit]

“bli” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Short form of blive, from Middle Norwegian blífa, from Middle Low German bliven. Meaning 2, 3 and 4 are taken from Old Norse verða. The forms vart, vorte and vorten are from verta and verte, also from Old Norse verða.

Pronunciation[edit]

IPA^(key): /bliː/
Homophone: blid

Verb[edit]

bli (present tense blir, past tense blei or vart, supine blitt or vorte, past participle blitt or vorten, present participle blivande, imperative bli)

to stay, remain.
Kva seier du til å bli heime i staden for å gå på den dumme festen?
How about staying home instead of going to that stupid party?

Du blir her!
You stay here!
(as an auxiliary verb to create passive voice with the main verb in past participle) to be
To personar vart arresterte for tjuveri i går.
Two people were arrested for theft yesterday.

Ho vart gripen av angst.
She was gripped with fear.
(change, development over time) to become, get, go.
Det blir jo berre verre!
It keeps getting worse!

Øhm, er det berre meg, eller byrjar du å bli skalla?
Erm, is it just me, or are you going bald?
to be, become, will, going to, turn out,
Når eg blir stor, skal eg bli lege.
When I grow up, I'm going to be a doctor.

Festen vart ein suksess!
The party turned out to be/was a success!
to be necessary, to have to, to be
Det blir å byrje på nytt, går eg ut frå.
I have to start over again I guess.
(bills and payments) to be, come to
Det blir 25 kroner.
That's 25 kroner

Synonyms[edit]

to stay, remain

to become, get, be

bills and payment; to be

kosta/koste

Derived terms[edit]

References[edit]

“bli” in The Bokmål Dictionary / The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old Saxon[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

*blīg

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-West Germanic *blīwī.

Noun[edit]

blī n

lead

Descendants[edit]

Middle Low German: blî, blig, blige
- German Low German:
  Altmärkisch: Bli
  
  Ravensbergisch-Lippisch: Bluich
  
  Sauerländisch: Bley, Blǖ, Blī
  
  Westmünsterländisch: Blij
- Plautdietsch: Blie
- → Middle English: *bli
  - ⇒ Middle English: bligeter (“lead founder”)

Swedish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Apocopic form of bliva, from Old Swedish bliva, from Middle Low German blîven (“to remain”), from Old Saxon bilīvan, from Proto-West Germanic *bilīban, from Proto-Germanic *bilībaną.

Pronunciation[edit]

IPA^(key): /bliː/
audio (file)
Rhymes: -iː

Verb[edit]

bli (present blir, preterite blev, supine blivit, imperative bli)

(sometimes dated) to remain, to stay
Nisse kom och blev stående i dörröppningen
Nisse came and stopped and remained standing in the doorway (not dated)

Arbetet blev liggande
The work stayed lying (not being worked on) (not dated)

Skomakare, bli vid din läst!
Cobbler, stick to thy last!
to become; to turn into (with an optional preposition till)
vattnet blev (till) vin ― the water turned into wine

grodan blev (till) en prins ― the frog turned into a prince

guldet blev (till) till sand ― the gold turned into sand
(impersonal) to be (in a future sense)
Det ska bli kul att träffa honom
It will be fun to meet him
(auxiliary) used together with an adjective or past participle, meaning "has become"
- 1915, Dan Andersson, Kolvaktarens Visor, Tjuvskytten
  Mätt av åren, tung och darrhänt
  var han bliven, Jägar-Vilhelm […]
  Full of the years, heavy and trembling
  was he become, Hunter-Vilhelm […]
Han har blivit gammal ― He has become old

Det hade blivit kallt ― It had become cold (the weather had gotten colder)

Usage notes[edit]

The initial examples for (sense 1) could also be analyzed as "became standing" and "became lying." Not dated for those usages.
The sense to remain, stay used to be more common in 1950 than it is now.
Note that bli till transitively means turn into, but intransitively means to come into being. The stress is on bli in the transitive sense, but till in the intransitive sense.
In many dialects, the past tense blev is often replaced with the past tense of varda.

Conjugation[edit]

Conjugation of bli (class 1 strong)

	Active		Passive
Infinitive	bli		—
Supine	blivit		—
Imperative	bli		—
Imper. plural¹	blin		—
	Present	Past	Present	Past
Indicative	blir	blev	—	—
Ind. plural¹	bli	blevo	—	—
Subjunctive²	bli	bleve	—	—
	Participles
Present participle	blivande
Past participle	bliven
¹ Archaic. ² Dated. See the appendix on Swedish verbs.

Conjugation of bliva (class 1 strong, dated)

	Active		Passive
Infinitive	bliva		—
Supine	blivit		—
Imperative	bliv		—
Imper. plural¹	bliven		—
	Present	Past	Present	Past
Indicative	bliver	blev	—	—
Ind. plural¹	bliva	blevo	—	—
Subjunctive²	blive	bleve	—	—
	Participles
Present participle	blivande
Past participle	bliven
¹ Archaic. ² Dated. See the appendix on Swedish verbs.

Synonyms[edit]

bliva (archaic, infinitive) (blifva, blifwa)
förbli (“to remain, stay”) (förbliva, förblifva, förblifwa)
varda (archaic except in past tense)

Derived terms[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

bil, ibl.

bli

Albanian[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Noun[edit]

Higaonon[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Noun[edit]

Middle Dutch[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

Descendants[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Norwegian Bokmål[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Verb[edit]

Synonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

See also[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Verb[edit]

Synonyms[edit]

References[edit]

Norwegian Nynorsk[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

Synonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Old Saxon[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Noun[edit]

Descendants[edit]

Swedish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

Usage notes[edit]

Conjugation[edit]

Synonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

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