bli

See also: BLI, bli', and blí

Albanian

Alternative forms

blî — Gheg

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /bli/

Noun

bli m (plural blirë, definite bliri)

linden, lime tree (Tilia)
linden flower (used to make linden tea)

Alternative forms

blî — Gheg

Derived terms

Noun

bli m (plural blij, definite blini)

sturgeon (Acipenser sturio)

Higaonon

Etymology

From bili, compare Aklanon bili.

Noun

bli

worth

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *blī, from Proto-West Germanic *blīwī.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /bliː/

Noun

bli n

lead
Synonym: loot

Descendants

Dutch: blei (with unetymological ei)
Limburgish: blie

Norwegian Bokmål

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /bliː/

Etymology 1

Short form of blive, from Danish blive, from Middle Low German bliven. Meanings 2, 3 and 4 are taken from Old Norse verða, which also has given rise to the dated vorde. In several dialects, the Low German word did not displace the Old Norse word completely. As a result, vart was allowed in past tense besides ble(i) between 1938 and 2005.

Verb

bli (imperative bli, present tense blir, simple past ble or blei, past participle blitt, present participle blivende)

to stay, remain.
Hva sier du til å bli hjemme i stedet for å gå på den dumme festen?
How about staying home instead of going to that stupid party?

Du blir her!
You stay here!
(as an auxiliary verb to create passive voice with the main verb in past participle) to be
To personer ble arrestert for tyveri i går.
Two people were arrested for theft yesterday.

Hun ble grepet av angst.
She was gripped with fear.
(change, development over time) to become, get, go.
Det blir jo bare verre!
It keeps getting worse!

Øhm, er det bare meg, eller begynner du å bli skallet?
Erm, is it just me, or are you going bald?
to be, become, will, going to, turn out,
Når jeg blir stor skal jeg bli lege.
When I grow up, I'm going to be a doctor.

Festen ble en suksess!
The party turned out to be/was a success!
(bills and payments) to be, come to
Det blir 25 kroner.
That's 25 kroner

Synonyms

(to stay, remain): bestå, dvele, forbli, vedbli, vedvare
(to become, get, be): forme seg, forvandle seg, fremkomme/framkomme, føre til, lede til, oppstå, utvikle seg, vokse seg, vorde
(bills and payment; to be): beløpe seg til, koste

Derived terms

Etymology 2

From the expression bli(ve) på sjøen (literally “to remain at sea”). The same word as in etymology 1 above, but secondarily distinguished in form.

Verb

bli (imperative bli, present tense blir, simple past blev or bleiv, past participle blitt, present participle blivende)

(archaic, dialect) Alternative form of blive (“to drown”)
Synonym: drukne

Han falt over bord og bleiv.
He fell over board and drowned.

References

“bli” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

bi (dialectal)

Etymology

Short form of blive, from Middle Norwegian blífa, from Middle Low German bliven. Meaning 2, 3 and 4 are taken from Old Norse verða. The forms vart, vorte and vorten are from verta and verte, also from Old Norse verða.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /bliː/
Homophone: blid

Verb

bli (present tense blir, past tense blei or vart, supine blitt or vorte, past participle blitt or vorten, present participle blivande, imperative bli)

to stay, remain.
Kva seier du til å bli heime i staden for å gå på den dumme festen?
How about staying home instead of going to that stupid party?

Du blir her!
You stay here!
(as an auxiliary verb to create passive voice with the main verb in past participle) to be
To personar vart arresterte for tjuveri i går.
Two people were arrested for theft yesterday.

Ho vart gripen av angst.
She was gripped with fear.
(change, development over time) to become, get, go.
Det blir jo berre verre!
It keeps getting worse!

Øhm, er det berre meg, eller byrjar du å bli skalla?
Erm, is it just me, or are you going bald?
to be, become, will, going to, turn out,
Når eg blir stor, skal eg bli lege.
When I grow up, I'm going to be a doctor.

Festen vart ein suksess!
The party turned out to be/was a success!
to be necessary, to have to, to be
Det blir å byrje på nytt, går eg ut frå.
I have to start over again I guess.
(bills and payments) to be, come to
Det blir 25 kroner.
That's 25 kroner

Synonyms

to stay, remain

to become, get, be

bills and payment; to be

kosta/koste

Derived terms

References

“bli” in The Bokmål Dictionary / The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old Saxon

Alternative forms

*blīg

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *blīwī.

Noun

blī n

lead

Descendants

Middle Low German: blî, blig, blige
- German Low German:
  Altmärkisch: Bli
  
  Ravensbergisch-Lippisch: Bluich
  
  Sauerländisch: Bley, Blǖ, Blī
  
  Westmünsterländisch: Blij
- Plautdietsch: Blie
- → Middle English: *bli
  - ⇒ Middle English: bligeter (“lead founder”)

Swedish

Etymology

Apocopic form of bliva, from Old Swedish bliva, from Middle Low German blîven (“to remain”), from Old Saxon bilīvan, from Proto-West Germanic *bilīban, from Proto-Germanic *bilībaną.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /bliː/
audio (file)
Rhymes: -iː

Verb

bli (present blir, preterite blev or (dialectal) vart, supine blivit, imperative bli)

to become
Jag blev glad när jag fick klappa kaninen
I was happy when I got to pet the rabbit

Vi stannade tills det blev mörkt
We stayed until it got dark

Det blev bra
It turned out well
1. to turn into (with an optional preposition till)
  Vattnet blev (till) vin
  The water turned into wine
  
  Grodan blev (till) en prins
  The frog turned into a prince
  
  Guldet blev (till) till sand
  The gold turned into sand
(sometimes dated) to remain, to stay
Nisse kom och blev stående i dörröppningen
Nisse came and stopped and remained standing in the doorway (not dated)

Arbetet blev liggande
The work stayed lying (not being worked on) (not dated)

Skomakare, bli vid din läst!
Cobbler, stick to thy last!
(impersonal) to be (in a future sense)
Det ska bli kul att träffa honom
It will be fun to meet him
(auxiliary) used together with an adjective or past participle, meaning "has become"
- 1915, Dan Andersson, Kolvaktarens Visor, Tjuvskytten
  Mätt av åren, tung och darrhänt
  var han bliven, Jägar-Vilhelm […]
  Full of the years, heavy and trembling
  was he become, Hunter-Vilhelm
Han har blivit gammal
He has become old

Det hade blivit kallt
It had become cold (the weather had gotten colder)

Usage notes

Swedish has a much stronger preference for bli (“become”) compared to English. Bli often idiomatically translates as something other than become, but means become. See the usage notes for man and skall for two other examples of words that have a direct translation that is often unidiomatic or a poor match for tone.
The initial examples for (sense 2) could also be analyzed as "became standing" and "became lying." Not dated for those usages.
The sense to remain, stay used to be more common in 1950 than it is now.
Note that bli till transitively means turn into, but intransitively means to come into being. The stress is on bli in the transitive sense, but till in the intransitive sense.
In many dialects, the past tense blev is often replaced with vart (etymologically the past tense of varda).

Conjugation

Conjugation of bli (class 1 strong)

	Active		Passive
Infinitive	bli		—
Supine	blivit		—
Imperative	bli		—
Imper. plural¹	blin		—
	Present	Past	Present	Past
Indicative	blir	blev	—	—
Ind. plural¹	bli	blevo	—	—
Subjunctive²	bli	bleve	—	—
	Participles
Present participle	blivande
Past participle	bliven
¹ Archaic. ² Dated. See the appendix on Swedish verbs.

Conjugation of bliva (class 1 strong, dated)

	Active		Passive
Infinitive	bliva		—
Supine	blivit		—
Imperative	bliv		—
Imper. plural¹	bliven		—
	Present	Past	Present	Past
Indicative	bliver	blev	—	—
Ind. plural¹	bliva	blevo	—	—
Subjunctive²	blive	bleve	—	—
	Participles
Present participle	blivande
Past participle	bliven
¹ Archaic. ² Dated. See the appendix on Swedish verbs.

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