fortbleiben — German conjugation

to stay

Frequency#1977Irregular

Indicative

Present (Präsens) Irregular

Präsens is the default present for facts, habits, and near-future plans. German has no continuous aspect in the same way as English, so a single form often covers both “I work” and “I am working” when you add a time adverb or context.

Ich arbeite heute im Homeoffice.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichbleibe fortI stay
dubleibst fortyou stay
er/sie/esbleibt forthe/she/it stays
wirbleiben fortwe stay
ihrbleibt fortyou (pl.) stay
sie/Siebleiben fortthey stay

Simple past (Präteritum) Irregular

Präteritum is a narrative past, common in print and in northern speech, while southern speakers lean on the perfect in conversation. sein and haben keep their Präteritum even when you otherwise avoid the preterite.

Er war müde, aber er hatte keinen Kaffee mehr.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichblieb fortI stayed
dubliebst fortyou stayed
er/sie/esblieb forthe/she/it stayed
wirblieben fortwe stayed
ihrbliebt fortyou (pl.) stayed
sie/Sieblieben fortthey stayed

Present perfect (Perfekt) Irregular

The Perfekt is the everyday past for finished events: auxiliary haben or sein plus participle, with sein for most motion, coming/going, and some change-of-state verbs.

Wir sind rechtzeitig angekommen und haben gefeiert.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichbin fortgebliebenI have stayed
dubist fortgebliebenyou have stayed
er/sie/esist fortgebliebenhe/she/it has stayed
wirsind fortgebliebenwe have stayed
ihrseid fortgebliebenyou (pl.) have stayed
sie/Siesind fortgebliebenthey have stayed

Pluperfect (Plusquamperfekt) Irregular

The Plusquamperfekt is the pluperfect: it marks what had already completed before a later past episode in the same narrative.

Sie war schon gegangen, bevor er ankam.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichwar fortgebliebenI had stayed
duwarst fortgebliebenyou had stayed
er/sie/eswar fortgebliebenhe/she/it had stayed
wirwaren fortgebliebenwe had stayed
ihrwart fortgebliebenyou (pl.) had stayed
sie/Siewaren fortgebliebenthey had stayed

Future I (Futur I) Irregular

Futur I is for predictions, firm promises, and also probability about the present in colloquial German. Everyday speech very often uses Präsens plus a time expression instead.

Morgen schneit es, sagt der Wetterbericht.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichwerde fortbleibenI will stay
duwirst fortbleibenyou will stay
er/sie/eswird fortbleibenhe/she/it will stay
wirwerden fortbleibenwe will stay
ihrwerdet fortbleibenyou (pl.) will stay
sie/Siewerden fortbleibenthey will stay

Future II (Futur II) Irregular

Futur II (werden + participle + haben/sein) names an action that will be completed before a later time, and can also express a guess that something must already have happened.

Bis Freitag werde ich alles gepackt haben.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichwerde fortgeblieben seinI will have stayed
duwirst fortgeblieben seinyou will have stayed
er/sie/eswird fortgeblieben seinhe/she/it will have stayed
wirwerden fortgeblieben seinwe will have stayed
ihrwerdet fortgeblieben seinyou (pl.) will have stayed
sie/Siewerden fortgeblieben seinthey will have stayed

Subjunctive

Subjunctive II (Konjunktiv II) Irregular

Konjunktiv II is the mood for politeness, contrary-to-fact if-clauses, and reported views. In speech, würde + infinitive often stands in for rarer preterit-based forms.

Könnten Sie mir bitte helfen?

PronounGerman
ichbliebe fort
dubliebest fort
er/sie/esbliebe fort
wirblieben fort
ihrbliebet fort
sie/Sieblieben fort

Other forms

Imperative (Imperativ) Irregular

The imperative uses the du, ihr, and Sie forms of command; the informal du form drops the -st of the present for many strong verbs, and separable-prefix verbs place the prefix at the end.

Mach bitte schnell, der Zug fährt gleich ab.

PronounGerman
dubleibe fort
ihrbleibt fort