blieb

Blieb is the simple past tense form (Präteritum) of the German verb bleiben, meaning to stay or remain. It describes a past situation in which a subject stayed in a place or continued to be in a certain state. The present tense forms are bleibe, bleibst, bleibt, bleiben, bleibt, bleiben, and the past participle is geblieben. In perfect tenses, bleiben takes the auxiliary sein, as in ich bin geblieben or er ist geblieben.

Conjugation in Präteritum: ich blieb, du bliebst, er/sie/es blieb, wir blieben, ihr bliebt, sie/Sie blieben. The verb is irregular, with a vowel change in the second and third person singular forms. The long-form past perfect uses geblieben as the past participle, e.g., Ich bin dort geblieben.

Etymology and cognates: bleiben originates from Old High German bliiban (or bliwan) and is related to other Germanic forms such as Dutch blijven and Swedish bli. The core sense of remaining or continuing is retained across these languages.

Usage and examples: Blieb appears in narrative past statements, such as "Er blieb zu Hause" (He stayed at home) or "Gestern blieb ich bis spät." It also appears in phrases describing persistence, as in "Es blieb unklar" (It remained unclear). The imperative form is used for commands: "Bleib ruhig!" (Stay calm) for singular, and "Bleibt ruhig!" for plural. Formal commands use "Bleiben Sie ruhig!"

Common phrases and idioms: "Es bleibt abzuwarten" (It remains to be seen) and "Es bleibt dabei" (That is the situation). Expressions with "bei" indicate sticking with something, e.g., "Wir bleiben bei unserem Plan" (We are sticking with our plan).

Blieb is a foundational, widely used verb form in German storytelling and everyday speech, essential for expressing past staying, persistence, and states that continue over time.