German has three verbs that link a subject to a word describing what that subject is, becomes, or stays — and all three behave the same grammatically. Sein says something is a certain way, werden says something becomes that way, and bleiben says it stays that way. The single fact that ties them together, and that English-speakers consistently miss, is that the word after all three is in the nominative case, not the accusative — because none of them takes an object. This page covers werden ('to become') and bleiben ('to stay, remain') as full verbs of change and continuity.
werden, bleiben, and sein are the three nominative copulas
A copula is a verb that does not take an object — it points back at the subject and re-describes it. The thing on each side of the verb is the same person or thing, so both sides sit in the nominative.
With sein, this is rarely a problem for English speakers, because "He is a teacher" has no object either. But because werden means "become" and bleiben means "stay/remain," English speakers feel as if something is happening to a noun and reach for the accusative. It isn't. Nothing is being acted on.
Er ist Lehrer.
He is a teacher. (sein + nominative — Lehrer)
Er wird Lehrer.
He is becoming a teacher / He is going to be a teacher. (werden + nominative — Lehrer)
Er bleibt Lehrer.
He is staying a teacher. (bleiben + nominative — Lehrer)
The masculine nominative article would be der/ein; the accusative would be den/einen. With these three verbs you will never see the accusative form referring back to the subject.
werden + adjective: changing state
The most common everyday use of werden is with an adjective: it describes a state coming into being. English handles this with several different verbs — get, grow, go, turn, become — but German uses one verb for all of them.
Es wird dunkel.
It's getting dark. (werden + adjective)
Mir wird schlecht — ich glaube, ich muss raus.
I'm starting to feel sick — I think I need to get outside. (informal; note the dative mir for how someone feels)
Die Suppe ist kalt geworden.
The soup has gone cold.
Notice the last example: the Perfekt of werden is ist geworden — it takes sein as its auxiliary, not haben, because werden describes a change of state (an intransitive change-of-state verb, like kommen or sterben). Hold on to that participle: as a full verb, werden's participle is geworden, but as the passive auxiliary it shrinks to worden (das wurde gebaut → ist gebaut worden). Here, with a real adjective, it is always geworden.
werden + noun: becoming something
When the complement is a noun — a profession, a role, an identity — werden still takes the nominative. With professions, German typically drops the article entirely, exactly as sein does.
Meine Tochter will Ärztin werden.
My daughter wants to become a doctor. (no article before the profession)
Mit 35 wurde er endlich Vater.
At 35 he finally became a father.
Das ist mit der Zeit zur Gewohnheit geworden.
Over time that became a habit. (zu + dative for 'turn into', when an article is present)
There are two patterns for "become a noun." Bare nouns of role or profession take a plain nominative (Vater werden, Lehrerin werden). When you want "turn into / develop into" a thing, German often uses werden zu + dative (zur Gewohnheit werden, zum Problem werden). The bare-nominative pattern is about being that thing; the zu-pattern emphasises the transformation.
Fixed "become X" expressions
A large family of everyday expressions is simply werden + adjective. Learn them as units:
| German | English | Register |
|---|---|---|
| krank werden | to get sick | neutral |
| müde werden | to get tired | neutral |
| wütend werden | to get angry | neutral |
| nervös werden | to get nervous | neutral |
| wahnsinnig werden | to go crazy / lose one's mind | informal |
| rot werden | to blush, go red | neutral |
| alt werden | to grow old | neutral |
Wenn ich diese Musik noch eine Stunde höre, werde ich wahnsinnig.
If I listen to this music for another hour, I'm going to go crazy. (informal)
bleiben: staying in a state — and it takes sein
Bleiben is the mirror image of werden: instead of a change into a state, it marks the continuation of one. The complement is again nominative.
Bitte bleib ruhig — wir finden eine Lösung.
Please stay calm — we'll find a solution. (informal imperative)
Trotz des Erfolgs ist sie bescheiden geblieben.
Despite her success, she has stayed modest.
Das bleibt unter uns, okay?
That stays between us, okay? (informal)
The principal parts of bleiben are bleiben – blieb – ist geblieben. Like werden, it forms its Perfekt with sein, which surprises English speakers twice over: first because "stay" feels like the very opposite of motion, and second because English builds all its perfects with "have." But German's rule is about change of position or state, and bleiben counts as a verb of (non-)position — it groups with sein, werden, gehen, kommen and the other sein-verbs.
Gestern bin ich den ganzen Tag zu Hause geblieben.
Yesterday I stayed home all day. (Perfekt with bin, not habe)
Don't confuse the three jobs of werden
This is where werden gets genuinely tricky, and where a B1 learner has to slow down. The same verb does three completely different jobs depending on what follows it.
| Job | What follows werden | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Full verb: "become" | adjective or nominative noun | Es wird kalt. / Er wird Arzt. |
| Future auxiliary (Futur) | an infinitive | Es wird regnen. (It will rain.) |
| Passive auxiliary | a past participle | Das Haus wird gebaut. (The house is being built.) |
The deciding clue is the word at the end of the clause. An adjective or a bare noun → "become." An infinitive (regnen, kommen) → future. A past participle (gebaut, gemacht) → passive. There is no ambiguity once you look at the final verb form.
Sie wird Lehrerin.
She is becoming a teacher. (full verb — noun follows)
Sie wird kommen.
She will come. (future — infinitive follows)
Sie wird gefördert.
She is being supported. (passive — participle follows)
The participle split mirrors this: the full verb's participle is geworden (Es ist kalt geworden), while the passive auxiliary uses the short worden (Es ist gemacht worden). The Futur, by contrast, has no participle at all — it lives in the present (wird kommen). For more on the future use, see Futur I; for a head-to-head on all three uses, see the three uses of werden.
How English misleads you here
English packs "become / get / grow / go / turn" into separate words and lets "stay/remain" take have in the perfect. German simplifies the lexicon (one verb, werden) but tightens the grammar (nominative complement, sein-auxiliary for both werden and bleiben). The mental adjustment is:
- Stop reaching for the accusative — nothing is an object.
- Stop reaching for haben in the Perfekt — both verbs take sein.
- Watch the final verb form to tell werden's three jobs apart.
Common Mistakes
❌ Er wird einen Arzt.
Incorrect — accusative einen after werden; nothing is an object here.
✅ Er wird Arzt.
He is becoming a doctor. (nominative; profession drops the article)
❌ Bleib ruhigen!
Incorrect — the adjective after bleiben is a predicate, so it stays uninflected.
✅ Bleib ruhig!
Stay calm! (predicate adjective, no ending)
❌ Ich habe den ganzen Tag zu Hause geblieben.
Incorrect — bleiben takes sein, not haben, in the Perfekt.
✅ Ich bin den ganzen Tag zu Hause geblieben.
I stayed home all day.
❌ Die Suppe ist kalt worden.
Incorrect — as a full verb 'become', the participle is geworden, not the passive worden.
✅ Die Suppe ist kalt geworden.
The soup has gone cold.
❌ Es wird regnet.
Incorrect — the future takes an infinitive, not a conjugated verb.
✅ Es wird regnen.
It's going to rain. (Futur: werden + infinitive)
Key Takeaways
- Sein, werden, bleiben are the three nominative copulas: the word after them describes the subject and stays in the nominative.
- Werden
- adjective/noun = "become"; bleiben
- adjective/noun = "stay."
- adjective/noun = "become"; bleiben
- Both form the Perfekt with sein: ist geworden, ist geblieben.
- Tell werden's three jobs apart by the final verb: adjective/noun → become; infinitive → future; past participle → passive.
- As a full verb the participle is geworden; as the passive auxiliary it shortens to worden.
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Start learning German→Related Topics
- Predicate Nominative and AppositionB1 — How copular verbs keep their complement in the nominative, and how apposition makes a second noun phrase copy the case of the noun it renames.
- sein, haben, werden: The Three Pillar VerbsA1 — The three irregular high-frequency verbs that anchor German: sein (to be), haben (to have), werden (to become) — their present forms and their double life as auxiliaries for the Perfekt, Futur, and Passiv.
- The Three Uses of werdenB1 — One verb, three jobs: werden is a full verb ('become'), the future auxiliary, and the passive auxiliary — told apart by whatever follows it.
- Futur I: Future and Probability with werdenB1 — How to form the Futur I with werden plus an infinitive, and why it more often signals probability about the present than the actual future.
- werden: Full Conjugation and UsageA1 — Complete conjugation of werden across every tense and mood, plus its three jobs — full verb 'become', future auxiliary, and passive auxiliary — with the auxiliary trap that catches English speakers.
- bleiben: Full Conjugation and UsageA1 — Complete conjugation of bleiben 'to stay / to remain' across every tense and mood, with its ei-ie-ie ablaut, its copula nominative complement, and why it takes sein in the Perfekt despite no motion.