blijven

Blijven is a Dutch verb meaning “to stay,” “to remain,” or “to continue.” It is an irregular verb belonging to the strong‑verb class with a vowel change in the past tense (bleef, bleven) and a past participle (gebleven). The infinitive “blijven” is derived from the Middle Dutch “blīven,” which in turn originates from the Proto‑Germanic *blībanan, cognate with German “bleiben” and English “remain.”

In contemporary Dutch, blijven is used both transitively and intransitively. In its intransitive sense it denotes the act of staying in a place or condition: “Hij blijft thuis” (“He stays at home”). The transitive use often involves a complement introduced by “bij” or “bij het”: “Blijf bij het onderwerp” (“Stay on topic”). It also appears in periphrastic constructions to indicate continuity of an action, as in “Hij blijft werken” (“He keeps working”).

The conjugation of blijven in the present indicative is: ik blijf, jij blijft, hij/zij/het blijft, wij blijven, jullie blijven, zij blijven. The past tense forms are bleef (sg.) and bleven (pl.), while the subjunctive forms are bleef and bleven. The imperative is “blijf” (singular) and “blijf(‘t) u” (formal).

In idiomatic expressions, blijven is common in phrases such as “blijven staan” (to stay standing, to persist) and “blijven zitten” (to remain seated, to not get up). The verb is integral to many Dutch proverbs and colloquial sayings that emphasize persistence or unchanged circumstances.