verblieb

Verblieb is the simple past (Präteritum) form of the German verb verbleiben, meaning to remain, stay, or be left. It is used to indicate that someone or something remained in a place, continued to exist in a state, or was left in a given condition. The prefix ver- attached to bleiben creates a verb with a formal or slightly evaluative nuance, often found in written or historical contexts.

Conjugation in the Präteritum (examples for singular and plural subjects): ich verblieb, du verbliebst, er verblieb; wir verblieben, ihr verbliebt, sie verblieben. The past participle is verblieben, which is used with auxiliary verbs to form the perfect or in certain passive-like constructions (for example, ist verblieben).

Usage and tone: verblieb is relatively formal and literary. It commonly appears in historical narratives, legal texts, official reports, and other formal prose. In everyday spoken German, speakers typically prefer the simpler form blieb (for the simple past) or the more common construction verbleiben in the present and the perfekte forms such as ist geblieben or ist verblieben in more formal contexts.

Relation to related terms: the noun Verbleib denotes the state of remaining or what remains, widely used in phrases like im Verbleib der Behörde or zum Verbleib der Spuren. Verbleiben as a base verb remains the preferred everyday equivalent for “to remain.”

Examples: Er verblieb im Amt. Nur noch wenige Hinweise verblieben.

See also: Verbleiben, Verbleib.