Jeg bliver hjemme i aften.

I stay at home tonight.

Breakdown of Jeg bliver hjemme i aften.

• jeg: I
• i aften: tonight
• blive: to stay
• hjemme: at home

Questions & Answers about Jeg bliver hjemme i aften.

Why is it bliver instead of er if the English is “I’m staying home tonight”?

Danish uses blive to express the idea of staying / remaining somewhere, not just being there.

• Jeg er hjemme. = I am at home. (a simple state, right now)
• Jeg bliver hjemme (i aften). = I’m staying home (tonight). (I’m not going out / I’m remaining at home)

So bliver adds the nuance of staying / remaining, often involving a decision or plan, while er just describes where you are.

What tense is bliver here? Does the sentence talk about the present or the future?

Grammatically, bliver is present tense.

However, in Danish, the present tense is very often used to talk about the near future when there is a time expression:

• Jeg bliver hjemme i aften.
  Present tense form, but understood as a future plan: I’m (going to be) staying home tonight.

Other examples:

• Jeg tager afsted i morgen. = I’m leaving tomorrow.
• Vi spiser klokken seks. = We’re eating at six.

So the time phrase i aften is what makes the meaning future-oriented.

What is the difference between hjem and hjemme, and why is it hjemme here?

The difference is:

• hjem = home as a direction (to home)

  • Jeg går hjem. = I’m walking home.
  • Kom hjem nu. = Come home now.

• hjemme = at home as a location (already there)

  • Jeg er hjemme. = I’m at home.
  • Jeg bliver hjemme. = I’m staying at home.

In Jeg bliver hjemme i aften, the meaning is remaining at home (not going out), so it has to be the location form hjemme, not the directional hjem.

Why is the preposition i used in i aften? Does i aften literally mean “in the evening”?

Literally, i aften is in the evening, but as a fixed expression it corresponds to English this evening or often tonight.

Danish regularly uses i with time words to refer to this/that specific time:

• i dag = today
• i går = yesterday
• i morgen = tomorrow
• i aften = this evening / tonight
• i nat = tonight (at night-time)

So i aften is an idiomatic time expression; it doesn’t feel like a literal “in” to Danes.

Can I change the word order and say I aften bliver jeg hjemme?

Yes, that is correct Danish, just with a different emphasis.

Danish main clauses follow the V2 rule: the verb must be in second position. You can move a time phrase like i aften to the front for emphasis, but the verb bliver must remain second:

• Jeg bliver hjemme i aften. (neutral, normal order)
• I aften bliver jeg hjemme. (emphasis on this evening)

Both mean the same; the second sounds a bit more like “As for tonight, I’m staying home.”

How would I say just “I’m at home tonight” instead of “I’m staying home tonight”? Is Jeg er hjemme i aften also correct?

Yes, Jeg er hjemme i aften is correct and natural.

Nuance:

• Jeg er hjemme i aften.
  More neutral: you will be at home this evening (you’re not away/at work/out).

• Jeg bliver hjemme i aften.
  Adds the idea of staying home instead of going out or doing something else. It can imply a decision: maybe you had the option to go out, but you’re choosing not to.

In everyday conversation, both are common; the choice depends on whether you want to highlight the “staying” aspect.

Is bliver conjugated for person? Would it change with du, han, vi, etc.?

No, bliver does not change with person. Danish verbs have the same form for all persons in the present tense.

So you get:

• Jeg bliver hjemme i aften. = I’m staying home tonight.
• Du bliver hjemme i aften. = You’re staying home tonight.
• Han/Hun bliver hjemme i aften. = He/She is staying home tonight.
• Vi bliver hjemme i aften. = We’re staying home tonight.
• I bliver hjemme i aften. = You (plural) are staying home tonight.
• De bliver hjemme i aften. = They are staying home tonight.

Only the subject pronoun changes; the verb form bliver stays the same.

What else can blive mean? I thought it could mean “become” too.

Blive is a very flexible verb in Danish. Its main uses are:

1. to become

   • Jeg bliver træt. = I’m getting/becoming tired.
   • Det bliver koldt. = It’s getting cold.

2. to stay / remain

   • Jeg bliver hjemme i aften. = I’m staying home tonight.
   • Han bliver her. = He’s staying here.

3. as part of the passive voice

   • Maden bliver lavet nu. = The food is being made now.

In your sentence, it’s in sense (2): stay / remain.

Is there any difference between hjemme and derhjemme in this kind of sentence?

Both work, but they feel slightly different:

• Jeg bliver hjemme i aften.
  Neutral: I’m staying home tonight.

• Jeg bliver derhjemme i aften.
  Adds a bit of emphasis, more like I’m staying at home (and not anywhere else) tonight.
  Derhjemme often has a slightly warmer or more “at my own place” feeling.

In many contexts they’re interchangeable, and hjemme is often the simpler, default choice.

How is Jeg bliver hjemme i aften normally pronounced in everyday speech?

In normal, relaxed speech, you’ll often hear something roughly like:

• Jeg ≈ jaj (like English “yeye” but very short)
• bliver ≈ blee-və or blivə (the r is weak or almost gone)
• hjemme ≈ yemme (the hj is usually pronounced like a y)
• i aften ≈ i aften or slightly smoothed, i aften with a soft t

So the whole thing might sound like:
“Jaj blive yemme i aften.” (approximate English-ified representation)

Exact pronunciation varies by region, but these reductions are very typical in spoken Danish.