Learn Hardcore German: Ich bleibe freundlich, aber innerlich bin ich nervös. - I remain friendly, but inwardly I am nervous.

Ich bin freundlich = I am friendly (a general state or characteristic).
Ich bleibe freundlich = I stay / remain friendly (I am choosing to keep being friendly, even though something makes it difficult).

In this sentence, bleibe emphasizes that the speaker is maintaining friendliness despite being nervous inside. It’s about continuing in that state, not just describing it.

What exactly does freundlich mean here? Is it “friendly” or “polite” or “kind”?

Freundlich can mean:

friendly (in manner, facial expression, tone),
kind,
sometimes close to polite, depending on context.

In this sentence, it likely means something like I act friendly / polite on the outside, in contrast to being nervous inside. It describes the external behavior or appearance, not necessarily a deep character trait.

Why is there a comma before aber?

In German, you put a comma before aber when it connects two main clauses (two full sentences with their own subject and verb):

Ich bleibe freundlich,
aber innerlich bin ich nervös.

Each part could stand alone as a sentence, so they are separated by a comma. This is a standard German comma rule with coordinating conjunctions like aber, denn, sondern, etc., when they join full clauses.

Why is the word order innerlich bin ich nervös and not ich bin innerlich nervös?

Both are grammatically correct:

Ich bin innerlich nervös.
Innerlich bin ich nervös.

German main clauses have verb in second position (V2 rule). If you put innerlich at the beginning to emphasize it, the verb must still stay in the second position, so you get inversion:

Innerlich (1st element)
bin (verb, 2nd position)
ich nervös (rest of the clause)

So:

Ich bin innerlich nervös – neutral word order.
Innerlich bin ich nervös – emphasizes innerlich (On the inside, I’m nervous).

What does innerlich mean exactly, and how is it different from im Inneren or innen?

Innerlich literally means internally / on the inside / inwardly, and is used mainly for:

emotions, thoughts, psychological state:
- innerlich nervös, innerlich unruhig, innerlich zerrissen

Differences:

innerlich – abstract, psychological or emotional “inside”.
im Inneren – more literal “in the interior / inside (of something)” but can also be used figuratively.
innen – usually physical inside (inside a room, inside a box), not so much about feelings.

So innerlich bin ich nervös focuses on the inner emotional state, not physical location.

Why is freundlich at the end of Ich bleibe freundlich? Could it be Ich bleibe aber freundlich?

In Ich bleibe freundlich, freundlich is in the normal predicate position at the end of the clause. This is very natural German.

You can also say:

Ich bleibe aber freundlich.

Here aber is in the middle of the clause and adds a slight nuance like “however / nevertheless”. It feels more like a contrastive particle inside the sentence rather than the conjunction joining two full clauses.

Your original sentence uses aber as a conjunction starting the second clause:

Ich bleibe freundlich, aber innerlich bin ich nervös.

Both structures are correct, but they are slightly different syntactically and rhythmically.

Why does the verb bleibe come in second position after Ich, but in the second clause the verb comes after innerlich?

This is the German verb-second (V2) rule in main clauses:

The finite verb (here: bleibe, bin) must be the second element in the clause.
The first element can be the subject (ich), an adverb (innerlich), a time expression, etc.

Clause 1:

Ich (1st element)
bleibe (verb, 2nd position)
freundlich (rest)

Clause 2:

innerlich (1st element)
bin (verb, 2nd position)
ich nervös (rest)

So the verb is always second, but the first element can change, causing inversion (subject after the verb).

Can I leave out the second ich and just say ..., aber innerlich bin nervös?

No, you cannot leave out ich here.

In German, the subject pronoun is usually not dropped, unlike in some other languages (like Spanish or Italian). So you need:

aber innerlich bin ich nervös, not bin nervös.

You could theoretically omit ich if it had just been said in the same clause with a shared verb, but here we have a new clause with its own verb, so ich is required.

Is nervös the same as “nervous,” or does it mean “stressed” or “anxious”?

Nervös is mostly equivalent to nervous in English:

feeling tension, jittery, on edge before an exam, presentation, meeting, etc.

Depending on context, it can overlap with stressed or anxious, but:

For stronger, more clinical anxiety, German would more likely use words like ängstlich, besorgt, in Sorge, etc.

In this sentence, nervös is the natural word for nervous (inside).

Why is the tense present (bleibe, bin) even though this could describe a future situation too?

German uses the present tense very broadly:

for things happening right now,
for general tendencies,
and often also for near-future arrangements when the time is clear from context.

Here, the present can mean:

I am (currently) staying friendly, but inside I am nervous.
or in a more general sense: In such situations, I stay friendly, but inside I get nervous.

You don’t need a special future tense; the present is normal here.

Is freundlich an adjective or an adverb here?

Formally, freundlich is an adjective, but in German the uninflected adjective can also function where English would use an adverb:

Ich bleibe freundlich.
Literally: I remain friendly (adjective),
but functionally like I remain friendly / act in a friendly way (adverbial meaning).

German does not add an -ly ending. The same form often serves as both adjective and adverb, especially in predicate position after verbs like sein, werden, bleiben.

How natural and common is the whole sentence Ich bleibe freundlich, aber innerlich bin ich nervös?

It is completely natural and idiomatic. It sounds like something a native speaker might say in everyday conversation, for example:

before a difficult conversation,
when describing how they handle stressful situations,
or when comparing outward behavior with inner feelings.

It is neutral in style and suits both spoken and informal written German.