Blive is one of the hardest-working verbs in Danish, and for English speakers it is genuinely strange, because no single English word does its jobs. It means become (det bliver koldt — "it's getting cold"), it means stay / remain (bliv her! — "stay here!"), it is the everyday passive auxiliary (huset bliver bygget — "the house is being built"), and it doubles as a casual future marker (det bliver regn i morgen — "it'll rain tomorrow"). One verb covers become, stay, get-passive, and future. Learn it early and learn it well.
Principal parts
| Form | Danish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | (at) blive | to become / to stay |
| Present | bliver | become(s) / stay(s) |
| Past | blev | became / stayed |
| Past participle | blevet | become / stayed |
| Imperative | bliv! | stay! |
Present: bliver
The present bliver is identical for every subject.
| Subject | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| jeg | bliver | jeg bliver træt |
| du | bliver | du bliver god |
| han / hun | bliver | hun bliver læge |
| vi | bliver | vi bliver hjemme |
| de | bliver | de bliver gift |
Det bliver koldt om aftenen nu.
It's getting cold in the evenings now.
Min søn bliver tre år på lørdag.
My son turns three on Saturday.
Past: blev
The past is blev — one short, strong syllable.
Hun blev læge, ligesom sin mor.
She became a doctor, just like her mother.
Vi blev hjemme hele weekenden, fordi det regnede.
We stayed home all weekend because it was raining.
Present perfect: er blevet
The perfect takes være as its auxiliary, giving er blevet ("has become / has stayed"). Reach for er, not har.
Vejret er blevet meget bedre.
The weather has got much better.
Hun er blevet rigtig dygtig til dansk.
She's become really good at Danish.
Past perfect: var blevet
Da vi nåede frem, var det allerede blevet mørkt.
By the time we arrived, it had already got dark.
The two big meanings: become vs stay
This is the conceptual heart of the verb. In a "become" sentence, something changes into a new state. In a "stay" sentence, something refuses to change — it remains as it was. Danish uses the same verb for both, and context tells them apart, usually through what follows.
When blive is followed by an adjective, a noun describing a new identity, or a future point, it means become / get / turn:
Jeg blev syg efter festen.
I got sick after the party.
De blev gode venner med det samme.
They became good friends right away.
When blive is followed by a place, or used on its own, it means stay / remain:
Bliv her, jeg er straks tilbage.
Stay here, I'll be right back.
Kan du ikke blive lidt længere?
Can't you stay a little longer?
Blive as the passive auxiliary
This is blive's most important grammatical job and the reason it appears constantly in news and instructions. To say something is being done to a subject, Danish puts bliver before a past participle: bliver bygget ("is being built"), bliver lavet ("is being made"), bliver sendt ("is being sent"). This is the dynamic passive — an action happening to the subject.
Huset bliver bygget i løbet af sommeren.
The house is being built over the summer.
Pakken blev sendt i går.
The parcel was sent yesterday.
Maden bliver serveret klokken syv.
The food will be served at seven.
Danish has a second passive, the -s passive (bygges, sendes), which is more written and impersonal. The blive-passive is the everyday spoken choice; the full comparison lives in The Blive Passive and The Passive Voice: An Overview.
Blive as a future marker
Because "becoming" naturally points forward, bliver is the most natural way to predict the weather, give a forecast, or say how something will turn out. Where English reaches for "will be," colloquial Danish often just uses bliver.
Det bliver regn i morgen.
It's going to rain tomorrow.
Mødet bliver klokken to i stedet.
The meeting will be at two instead.
See Expressing the Future for how bliver, vil and the plain present share future duty.
Imperative: bliv!
The imperative bliv ("stay!") is one of the first commands a learner meets — it is even what you call to a dog.
Bliv siddende, der er ikke travlt.
Stay seated, there's no rush.
Common collocations and fixed expressions
- blive ved (med at) — to keep on / continue (doing something)
- blive til — to come of something, to turn into
- blive væk — to disappear, to get lost / not show up
- blive enige — to come to an agreement, agree
- blive gift — to get married
Hvis du bliver ved med at øve, bliver du god.
If you keep practising, you'll get good.
A natural exchange
— Bliver du til middag, eller skal du hjem? — Jeg bliver gerne, men det er ved at blive sent. — Bare bliv, busserne kører hele natten.
— Are you staying for dinner, or do you have to head home? — I'd happily stay, but it's getting late. — Just stay, the buses run all night.
Common mistakes
❌ Jeg har blevet syg.
Incorrect — blive forms its perfect with være, not have.
✅ Jeg er blevet syg.
I've got sick.
❌ Bliv her og bliv ikke gammel for hurtigt — han bliver i sengen.
Confusing the senses: the issue is choosing 'stay' vs 'become' by context.
✅ Bliv her! — Stay here! (stay). Det bliver koldt. — It's getting cold (become).
One verb, two readings, sorted by what follows it.
❌ Huset er bygget af arbejderne lige nu.
Incorrect for an ongoing action — the være-passive describes a finished state, not an action in progress.
✅ Huset bliver bygget af arbejderne lige nu.
The house is being built by the workers right now.
❌ Hun blivede læge.
Incorrect — blive is a strong verb; the past is blev, not a regular -ede form.
✅ Hun blev læge.
She became a doctor.
❌ Det vil være regn i morgen.
Overly literal 'will be' — Danish predicts outcomes with bliver.
✅ Det bliver regn i morgen.
It's going to rain tomorrow.
Now practice Danish
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Start learning Danish→Related Topics
- VæreA1 — Full reference for være ('to be') — principal parts, all core tenses in natural sentences, der er existentials, and the single non-agreeing form er.
- The Blive PassiveB1 — The blive-passive (blive + past participle) is Danish's everyday passive for a single, concrete, dynamic event — and the key contrast it forces is blive (the action happening) vs være (the state that results).
- The Passive Voice: An OverviewB1 — Danish has not one passive but three — the -s passive, the blive-passive, and the være-passive — each carrying a different nuance of process, event, or resultant state. Here is how they fit together.
- Expressing the FutureA2 — Danish has no future tense — it uses the plain present, vil, or skal, each with a different nuance. The key is the skal (plan) vs vil (volition) split that English 'will' obscures.
- Choosing Have or Være in the PerfectB1 — Why most Danish verbs build the perfect with have, but verbs of motion and change of state use være — and how the same verb can take either.
- Danish Verbs: An OverviewA1 — A big-picture map of the Danish verb system — no person agreement, one present and one past form per verb, compound perfects, the passive, and modals.