bli means "to become" or "to get" in the sense of changing into a new state. It is one of the most frequent verbs in Swedish — and one of the most treacherous false friends for English speakers, because its forms can look and feel like "be" while its meaning is the opposite: not what something is, but what it turns into. Getting the bli / vara distinction right is one of the highest-value things a beginner can do.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present | Preteritum (past) | Supine | Imperative | Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| bli | blir | blev | blivit | bli | strong |
The infinitive bli is the modern form; the older bliva is (archaic/literary). bli is a strong verb, changing its stem vowel across the forms — present blir, past blev, supine blivit — much like English give / gave / given. The supine appears after ha: har blivit.
Det blir kallt i kväll.
It's going to get cold tonight. blir — present, marking a change toward 'cold'.
Hon blev jätteglad när hon hörde nyheten.
She got really happy when she heard the news. blev — the past.
Vad har det blivit av honom?
What's become of him? blivit — supine, after har.
Use 1: become / get — a change of state
The heart of bli is transition: a subject moves from one state into another. Where English uses "become," "get," "go," or "turn" to signal a change, Swedish very often uses bli.
Jag blir trött av att sitta still.
I get tired from sitting still. Not 'am tired' — the point is the change into tiredness.
Han blev läkare till slut.
He became a doctor in the end. A change of identity over time.
Mjölken har blivit sur.
The milk has gone sour. A change of state — blivit, not 'is sour'.
Det börjar bli mörkt ute.
It's starting to get dark out. bli for the gradual change toward darkness.
Use 2: the bli-passive — a dynamic event
Combined with a past participle, bli forms a passive that highlights the event happening to the subject — the dynamic counterpart to the vara-passive, which describes the resulting state. Han blev vald foregrounds the act of being elected; Han är vald describes the state of being elected now.
Han blev vald till ordförande igår.
He was elected chairman yesterday. bli + participle = the event of being elected as it happened.
Cykeln blev stulen utanför skolan.
The bike got stolen outside the school. The theft as an event affecting the bike.
Vi blev bjudna på middag av grannarna.
We were invited to dinner by the neighbours. The invitation as an event we received.
Use 3: a stand-in for the future
Because a change of state often lies in the future, blir frequently does future-tense work: "it'll be / it'll turn out." This is everyday spoken Swedish for predicting how something will end up.
Det blir bra, oroa dig inte.
It'll be fine, don't worry. blir = 'will turn out' — a prediction about the outcome, NOT 'it is fine now'.
Vad blir det till middag?
What's for dinner? (lit. 'what will it be for dinner') — blir for the upcoming result.
Det blir 250 kronor.
That'll be 250 kronor. The classic phrase at a till — blir for the total that comes to be.
A few idioms with bli
bli anchors some common fixed expressions where the "change / end up" sense is still visible underneath.
Jag vill bli av med den här gamla soffan.
I want to get rid of this old sofa. bli av med = 'get rid of'.
Kan vi bli kvar en stund till?
Can we stay on a bit longer? bli kvar = 'stay / remain behind'.
Vad ska det bli av honom?
What's to become of him? bli av = 'come about / happen / become of'.
bli vs vara: the false-friend line
This is the distinction to burn in. vara = a state that is (static, current). bli = a change into a state (dynamic, becoming). They are not interchangeable, and bli is emphatically not a way to say "be."
| vara — a current state | bli — a change into a state |
|---|---|
| Jag är trött. (I am tired.) | Jag blir trött. (I get tired.) |
| Det är bra. (It is fine.) | Det blir bra. (It'll turn out fine.) |
| Dörren är öppen. (The door is open.) | Dörren blev öppnad. (The door was opened.) |
Common Mistakes
❌ Det blir bra. (meaning 'it is fine right now')
False friend — blir means 'will become / turn out', not 'is'. For a current state use är.
✅ Det är bra. / Det blir bra.
It is fine (now). / It'll turn out fine (later).
❌ Jag blir lärare. (meaning 'I am a teacher')
Incorrect for a present fact — this says 'I'm going to become a teacher'.
✅ Jag är lärare.
I am a teacher.
❌ Hon blivde glad.
Incorrect — bli is strong: the past is blev, the supine blivit, never *blivde.
✅ Hon blev glad.
She got happy.
❌ Jag är trött av att springa. (intending the change)
If you mean you GET tired from running, use bli — är states a fixed condition.
✅ Jag blir trött av att springa.
I get tired from running.
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Start learning Swedish→Related Topics
- Irregular High-Frequency Verbs (vara, ha, göra, veta)A1 — A handful of everyday verbs are fully irregular and must be learned one by one: vara (är/var/varit), ha (har/hade/haft), göra (gör/gjorde/gjort), veta (vet/visste/vetat), säga (säger/sade~sa/sagt), lägga (lägger/lade~la/lagt), bli (blir/blev/blivit). These seven carry a huge share of all speech, so learn them first — including the present (är, not *varar; vet, not *vetar) and the colloquial sa/la pasts that dominate spoken Swedish.
- The bli-PassiveB1 — The periphrastic bli-passive — bli + an agreeing past participle (Han blev vald; Bilen blev stulen) — marks a DYNAMIC event or change of state ('got/became X-ed'). It takes the agent with av (biten av en hund). Because it mirrors English 'be/get + participle' it gets overused: for habitual or general statements the -s passive is the idiomatic choice.
- False Friends (eventuellt, bli, semester)B1 — Swedish words that look like an English word but mean something else: eventuellt is 'possibly', NOT 'eventually'; bli is 'become', not 'be'; semester is 'vacation', not a school term; aktuell is 'current/relevant', not 'actual'; gymnasium is upper-secondary school. The most dangerous is eventuellt — because the wrong reading ('eventually') still makes surface sense, the error sails through uncaught. This page drills each trap with incorrect→corrected usage.
- vara (to be)A1 — The verb vara means 'to be' — but its present is the irregular är (not *varar), and Swedish uses it more narrowly than English: vara is for identity and description, while objects sitting somewhere take ligga, stå or sitta instead.