Every language needs a way of talking about what happens to people in general, without saying which people. English has an unusually large kit for the job — you, they, one, people, and the agentless passive — and it switches between them mostly by register. Greek has a comparable kit, but the pieces are cut differently, and the difference that matters is not formality first. It is who is inside the generalisation and who is outside it.
The two workhorses sit at opposite ends of that question. The generic second person pulls the listener in: this is what happens to you, to me, to anyone. The third-person plural pushes the agent out: somebody did this, and it was not us. Get those two right and you have covered most of what a Greek speaker says in a day.
The generic second person singular
Greek's commonest impersonal is a verb in the second person singular with no addressee behind it. Grammatically it looks like you; semantically it means anyone at all, oneself included.
Όταν πεινάς, τρως ό,τι βρεις μπροστά σου.
ótan pinás, tros óti vris brostá su
When you're hungry, you eat whatever's in front of you.
Δεν ξέρεις ποτέ τι μπορεί να συμβεί, γι' αυτό έχε πάντα μετρητά μαζί σου.
dhen kséris poté ti borí na simví, yi' aftó éche pánda metritá mazí su
You never know what might happen, so always keep some cash on you.
Όσο πιο πολύ το σκέφτεσαι, τόσο χειρότερα νιώθεις.
óso pio polí to skéftese, tóso chirótera nióthis
The more you think about it, the worse you feel.
Why the second person and not some neutral third? Because the form is doing rhetorical work. It invites the listener to stand in the scenario and check the claim from the inside — the Greek equivalent of English you try getting a plumber in August. That is also why the generic second person is so much at home in complaints, in life advice and in proverbs, and so rare in a scientific paper.
Ό,τι σπείρεις θα θερίσεις.
óti spíris tha therísis
You reap what you sow. (proverb)
Θέλει υπομονή να μεγαλώσεις παιδί σε αυτή την πόλη.
théli ipomoní na meghalósis pedhí se aftí tin póli
It takes patience to raise a child in this city.
Everything that hangs off the verb goes generic with it. The possessive is σου, the object clitic is σε, and none of them points at the person you are talking to: μαζί *σου, μπροστά σου* in the examples above belong to the imagined everyman, not to your listener.
How to tell it from real address
Three signals, and the first is the reliable one.
No εσύ. The generic reading survives only while the subject pronoun is absent. Put εσύ in and the sentence snaps to a real addressee, because — as subject pronouns explains — an inserted pronoun in Greek always means something, and what it means here is you specifically, as opposed to other people. That is the opposite of a generalisation.
A gnomic frame. Generic second persons live in the present tense, under όταν, όσο, αν, πάντα, ποτέ — frames that describe how things go rather than what happened.
No answer is possible. Δεν ξέρεις ποτέ cannot be replied to with "yes I do". If the sentence would be odd to contradict, the you is not really you.
The third-person plural: somebody, and not us
The second Greek workhorse is a bare third-person plural verb with no subject and none recoverable. English reaches for they — they say, they've closed the road — or, more often, for an agentless passive. Greek uses the plural verb for both, and it is entirely neutral in register.
Λένε ότι θα ανοίξει καινούριο σούπερ μάρκετ στη γωνία.
léne óti tha aníksi kenúrio súper márket sti ghonía
They say a new supermarket's opening on the corner.
Έκλεισαν τον δρόμο για τη διαδήλωση και δεν περνάει λεωφορείο.
éklisan ton dhrómo ya ti dhiadhílosi ke dhen pernái leoforío
They've closed the road for the demonstration and no buses are getting through.
Σε ζητάνε στο τηλέφωνο, κάποιος από την τράπεζα.
se zitáne sto tiléfono, kápios apó tin trápeza
There's someone on the phone for you — somebody from the bank.
Note what the form does that the English passive cannot. The agent is unnamed but real, and it excludes the speaker — and usually the listener too. That is the whole semantic difference from the generic second person: Δεν ξέρεις ποτέ includes everybody, Λένε ότι includes nobody present. This is also why Greek prefers the plural verb to a passive when something is done to you: the sentence puts the victim up front as a clitic and leaves the culprit properly anonymous.
Μου έκλεψαν το πορτοφόλι στο μετρό και δεν κατάλαβα τίποτα.
mu éklepsan to portofóli sto metró ke dhen katálava típota
My wallet got stolen on the metro and I didn't notice a thing.
The same plural covers what English handles with people in X do Y:
Στην Ελλάδα τρώνε αργά το βράδυ, μη ζητήσεις τραπέζι στις εφτά.
stin Eládha tróne arghá to vrádhi, mi zitísis trapézi stis eftá
In Greece people eat late in the evening — don't ask for a table at seven.
And the two strategies chain happily inside a single sentence, which is how most complaints in Greek are actually built:
Πας στο δημόσιο, περιμένεις δύο ώρες και στο τέλος σου λένε ότι λείπει ένα χαρτί.
pas sto dhimósio, periménis dhío óres ke sto télos su léne óti lípi éna chartí
You go to a government office, wait two hours, and in the end they tell you a document is missing.
Πας and περιμένεις are you-the-everyman; λένε are the clerks. Two impersonals, two different sets of people, and no pronoun anywhere.
The mediopassive: the register of signs and laws
Where English writing uses the agentless passive — smoking is prohibited, the building is expected to be demolished — Greek uses the mediopassive, the -εται / -ονται forms. This is the (formal) end of the impersonal kit: signage, contracts, instructions, recipes, news reports and academic prose.
Απαγορεύεται το κάπνισμα σε όλους τους κλειστούς χώρους.
apaghorévete to kápnizma se ólus tus klistús chórus
Smoking is prohibited in all indoor spaces. (formal — signage)
Το φαγητό σερβίρεται από τις οκτώ μέχρι τις έντεκα.
to fayitó servírete apó tis októ méchri tis éndeka
Food is served from eight until eleven. (formal)
Ανακατεύεται καλά και προστίθεται το αλάτι στο τέλος.
anakatévete kalá ke prostíthete to aláti sto télos
Stir well and add the salt at the end. (formal — recipe style; in speech you would say ανακατεύεις)
The most useful thing to memorise is a minimal pair of registers. Λένε ότι… and Λέγεται ότι… mean the same thing and live in different worlds: the first is what you say to a neighbour, the second is what a newsreader says.
Λέγεται ότι το κτίριο θα κατεδαφιστεί μέσα στη χρονιά.
léyete óti to ktírio tha katedhafistí mésa sti chroniá
It is said that the building will be demolished within the year. (formal)
Note that λέγεται here is frozen in the third person singular — it has no subject to agree with, and it does not become plural because several people are doing the saying. The same is true of θεωρείται ότι, υπολογίζεται ότι, αναμένεται ότι. The wider behaviour of subjectless passives is on the impersonal passive.
κανείς and ο κόσμος: the two ways of saying "people"
English one — how can one live like that? — has a close Greek match in the nominative κανείς, stripped of its usual negative colouring. It is restricted: it works as a subject, in modal and rhetorical clauses, and it belongs to (formal) speech and journalism rather than to the kitchen table. Its ordinary polarity behaviour is on κανένας.
Πώς μπορεί κανείς να ζητήσει τέτοια πράγματα και να μη ντρέπεται;
pos borí kanís na zitísi tétia prághmata ke na mi drépete;
How can one ask for things like that and not be embarrassed? (formal, rhetorical)
The everyday counterpart is not a pronoun at all but a noun: ο κόσμος, literally "the world", used for people, everybody. It is enormously common in speech, and its one trap is that it is grammatically singular where English people is plural.
Ο κόσμος λέει ότι θα ξαναρχίσουν οι απεργίες τον Οκτώβρη.
o kózmos léi óti tha ksanarchísun i aperyíes ton Októvri
People are saying the strikes will start up again in October.
Τι θα πει ο κόσμος αν το μάθει;
ti tha pi o kózmos an to máthi;
What will people say if they find out?
For the loftiest version — statements about the human being as such — Greek uses the generic singular with the definite article, ο άνθρωπος, which is the register of definitions and aphorism and is set out on generic reference.
Including yourself: the first-person plural
One more option, and it is the one an essayist reaches for: a plain first-person plural that means we humans, all of us. It is the warmest of the strategies, because the speaker is unmistakably inside the claim.
Όσο μεγαλώνουμε, δυσκολευόμαστε να αλλάξουμε συνήθειες.
óso meghalónume, dhiskolevómaste na aláksume siníthies
As we get older, we find it harder to change our habits.
Choosing between them
| Strategy | Example | Who it covers | Register |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2nd person singular | Όταν πεινάς, τρως. | anyone — listener pulled in | neutral; dominant in speech |
| 3rd person plural | Λένε ότι… | an unnamed agent — speaker excluded | neutral; everywhere |
| Mediopassive | Λέγεται ότι… | nobody in particular | (formal) — signs, law, news, recipes |
| κανείς | Πώς μπορεί κανείς…; | anyone, abstractly | (formal) — rhetoric, journalism |
| ο κόσμος | Ο κόσμος λέει… | people at large | everyday speech |
| 1st person plural | Όσο μεγαλώνουμε… | everyone, speaker included | neutral to essayistic |
Common Mistakes
1. Translating English "one" with bare ένας. Greek has no generic pronoun of that shape; the job goes to the second person, or to κανείς in a formal register. (With a noun after it, ένας can head a representative generic — ένας καλός δάσκαλος πρέπει να… — which is a different construction, described on generic reference.)
❌ Ένας δεν ξέρει ποτέ τι θα φέρει η επόμενη μέρα.
Incorrect — bare ένας cannot stand as a generic pronoun. Use the generic second person, or κανείς: Ποτέ δεν ξέρει κανείς…
✅ Δεν ξέρεις ποτέ τι θα φέρει η επόμενη μέρα.
dhen kséris poté ti tha féri i epómeni méra
You never know what tomorrow will bring.
2. Making ο κόσμος plural. English people are saying is plural, and the pull to match it is strong. ο κόσμος is grammatically singular, and the sentence to produce keeps a singular verb. A plural verb after a collective noun is not an error — Greek allows agreement κατά το νοούμενον, "by the sense", and the proverb below is built on it — but it is a marked and largely fixed option, and a learner reaching for it is almost always just importing the English plural.
Ο κόσμος λέει ότι άλλαξε ο διευθυντής.
o kózmos léi óti álakse o dhiefthindís
People are saying the manager's been replaced. (the default, and the one to produce)
Ο κόσμος το 'χουν τούμπανο κι εμείς κρυφό καμάρι.
o kózmos to chun túmbano ki emís krifó kamári
Everyone is trumpeting it about while we treat it as our private pride. (proverbial — agreement by sense, a plural verb after the collective noun)
3. Starting generic and drifting to the third person. Once you have opened with a generic second person, the whole sentence has to stay in it — verb, clitics and possessive alike.
❌ Όταν μένεις μόνος, μαθαίνει να μαγειρεύει.
Incorrect — the person cannot change halfway: Όταν μένεις μόνος, μαθαίνεις να μαγειρεύεις.
✅ Όταν μένεις μόνος, μαθαίνεις να μαγειρεύεις.
ótan ménis mónos, mathénis na mayirévis
When you live on your own, you learn to cook.
4. Making the impersonal passive agree with the people. λέγεται has no subject, so there is nothing for it to agree with.
❌ Λέγονται ότι θα αυξηθούν τα εισιτήρια.
Incorrect — the impersonal λέγεται is frozen in the third person singular: Λέγεται ότι…
✅ Λέγεται ότι θα αυξηθούν τα εισιτήρια από τον Ιανουάριο.
léyete óti tha afksithún ta isitíria apó ton Ianuário
It is said that ticket prices will go up from January. (formal)
5. Filling in εσύ out of English habit. Both of the following are correct Greek, and they are not the same sentence — the pronoun destroys the generalisation and turns it into a remark about the person in front of you.
Δεν προλαβαίνεις να κάνεις τίποτα με τέτοιο ωράριο.
dhen prolavénis na kánis típota me tétio orário
You can't get anything done with hours like these. (generic — anyone with this schedule)
Εσύ δεν προλαβαίνεις να κάνεις τίποτα με τέτοιο ωράριο.
esí dhen prolavénis na kánis típota me tétio orário
You don't get anything done with hours like these. (about the addressee, and faintly accusing)
Key Takeaways
- The generic second person singular is Greek's default impersonal in speech: Όταν πεινάς, τρως, Δεν ξέρεις ποτέ. It pulls the listener into the scenario, and the possessives and clitics around it (σου, σε) go generic with it.
- It survives only without εσύ, and only in the singular — a second-person plural is read as real address, and εσείς is not the polite version of it.
- The third-person plural supplies an unnamed agent that excludes the speaker: Λένε ότι…, Έκλεισαν τον δρόμο, Μου έκλεψαν το πορτοφόλι. It is Greek's usual answer to the English agentless passive.
- The mediopassive is the (formal) written strategy — Απαγορεύεται, σερβίρεται, Λέγεται ότι — and its impersonal forms are frozen in the third person singular.
- κανείς is a (formal), nominative-only "one" for modal and rhetorical clauses; ο κόσμος is the everyday word for "people" and is grammatically singular.
- A first-person plural generalises with the speaker inside it, which is why essays and speeches favour it.
- Choose on membership before register: is the listener inside the generalisation, or is this about somebody else?
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Start learning Greek →Related Topics
- Impersonal and Dummy SubjectsB1 — English has two subjects that mean nothing — it and there — and Greek has neither, which produces two separate transfer errors with two separate fixes. 'It' corresponds to nothing at all (Βρέχει, Κάνει κρύο, Είναι κρίμα που…), while 'there is' is the real verb υπάρχει, which agrees, or the everyday έχει, which does not. Plus the neuter-singular adjective in Είναι δύσκολο να… and when αυτό genuinely is allowed.
- κανένας: 'no/any' and NegationA2 — κανένας / καμιά / κανένα is Greek's 'nobody' and its 'any' in one word, and it never works alone: Δεν ήρθε κανείς needs both δεν and κανείς, because Greek stacks negatives instead of cancelling them. Full paradigm, the κανείς/κανένας doublet, the obligatory δεν even in Κανείς δεν ήρθε, and the friendly spoken reading in Πάμε για κανένα ποτό;
- Impersonal and Agentless PassivesB2 — The two ways Greek keeps the doer out of the sentence — the third-person mediopassive of signs, notices and news (Πωλείται, Ενοικιάζεται, Απαγορεύεται το κάπνισμα, Λέγεται ότι…, Παρακαλείσθε να…) and the everyday subjectless third-person plural (Μου έκλεψαν το πορτοφόλι, Λένε ότι…) that is what Greek actually says where English reaches for a passive.
- Generic vs Specific ReferenceB2 — Why Greek marks a statement about a whole class — coffee as such, Greeks as such, the human being as such — with the definite article, singular or plural, exactly where English strips it off; the fine line between the generic ο καφές (coffee in general) and the specific αυτός ο καφές (this coffee); and the register difference between the gnomic singular and the everyday plural.
- When to Use (and Drop) Subject PronounsA1 — Greek verb endings already say who is doing the action, so εγώ and εσύ are left out unless you are contrasting, correcting, switching topic or answering 'who?'. This page shows exactly what the extra pronoun signals, so you stop scattering εγώ through your sentences the way English forces you to.