English says myself and stops thinking. Greek makes you choose between two systems that have nothing in common structurally: a voice — the -ομαι ending, πλένομαι, ντύνομαι, ετοιμάζομαι — and a noun, ο εαυτός μου. Both come out as myself in translation, which is precisely why learners scatter τον εαυτό μου across sentences where a native speaker would just change the verb ending. This page is about the choice. The mechanics of each half live elsewhere: the middle on the reflexive middle, the noun on ο εαυτός μου.
The structural difference, and everything that follows from it
Fix this one sentence and you can work out the rest yourself.
The middle deletes the object slot. The pronoun fills it.
When πλένω becomes πλένομαι, the verb stops having an object at all — there is no longer a second participant in the sentence, just a subject doing something that lands on itself. When you say πλένω τον εαυτό μου, the object slot is still there and a full, ordinary noun phrase is sitting in it.
That difference has consequences, because a noun phrase can do things a deleted slot cannot. It can be governed by a preposition. It can be contrasted with something else. It can be modified by an adjective, coordinated with another noun, or picked out by μόνο. Every time your sentence needs one of those, the middle is structurally unable to help and the noun is your only route.
Κοιτάζεται στον καθρέφτη πριν βγει από το σπίτι.
kitázete ston kathréfti prin vyi apó to spíti
She checks herself in the mirror before she leaves the house. (routine — the ending is enough)
Κοιτάζω τον εαυτό μου στον καθρέφτη και δεν τον αναγνωρίζω.
kitázo ton eaftó mu ston kathréfti ke dhen ton anaghnorízo
I look at myself in the mirror and I don't recognise the man. (the self is a thing being examined — a real object)
Both sentences are natural. The second is not a stronger version of the first; it is a different sentence, in which the self is something you can stand back and look at.
Three situations that force the pronoun
The self is oblique. The -ομαι ending folds the direct object back onto the subject — never an oblique one. The moment the self needs a preposition in front of it — to myself, about myself, with myself, of myself — the voice has no way to express it, and only the noun will do.
Μιλάει για τον εαυτό του συνέχεια και δεν ρωτάει ποτέ για σένα.
milái ya ton eaftó tu sinéchia ke dhen rotái poté ya séna
He talks about himself non-stop and never asks about you.
Δεν εμπιστεύομαι τον εαυτό μου με γλυκά στο σπίτι.
dhen embistévome ton eaftó mu me ghliká sto spíti
I don't trust myself with sweets in the house.
The self is contrasted, focused, modified or coordinated. These are things you do to a noun phrase, so they need one.
Κατηγορώ τον εαυτό μου για ό,τι έγινε, όχι εσένα.
katighoró ton eaftó mu ya óti éyine, óchi eséna
I blame myself for what happened, not you.
Μόνο τον εαυτό μου έχω να κατηγορήσω γι' αυτό το χάλι.
móno ton eaftó mu écho na katighoríso yaftó to cháli
I've got nobody but myself to blame for this mess.
Πρόσεχε τον εαυτό σου και τα παιδιά μέχρι να γυρίσω.
próseche ton eaftó su ke ta pedhiá méchri na yiríso
Look after yourself and the kids until I get back.
The middle is already spoken for. For a large group of verbs the -ομαι form exists but means "be …-ed", so it is simply not available for the reflexive reading. This is the clearest case of all: there is no choice to make.
| Active | What the -ομαι form means | "…to myself" |
|---|---|---|
| αγαπάω | αγαπιέμαι — I am loved | αγαπάω τον εαυτό μου |
| κατηγορώ | κατηγορούμαι — I stand accused | κατηγορώ τον εαυτό μου |
| θεωρώ | θεωρούμαι — I am considered | θεωρώ τον εαυτό μου |
| συγχωρώ | συγχωρούμαι — I am forgiven | συγχωρώ τον εαυτό μου |
| εμπιστεύομαι | a deponent — there is no active to turn | εμπιστεύομαι τον εαυτό μου |
Θεωρεί τον εαυτό του ειδικό σε όλα και δεν ακούει κανέναν.
theorí ton eaftó tu idhikó se óla ke dhen akúi kanénan
He considers himself an expert on everything and listens to nobody.
With a plural subject several of these -ομαι forms pick up a third reading — the reciprocal one, αγαπιούνται "they love each other" — which is a different job again, laid out on the reciprocal middle. What none of them can be is reflexive.
Where both are open: an emphasis axis, not a correctness axis
For the everyday self-care verbs — πλένομαι, ντύνομαι, χτενίζομαι, ξυρίζομαι, ετοιμάζομαι — the middle is the unmarked default and covers roughly nineteen sentences out of twenty. But the periphrasis is real Greek, not an error; it is what you reach for when the self genuinely needs to be pointed at.
Πλένομαι, ντύνομαι και είμαι έξω σε ένα τέταρτο.
plénome, dínome ke íme ékso se éna tétarto
I wash, get dressed and I'm out the door in fifteen minutes. (neutral — the routine)
Πλένει το σκυλί, πλένει το αμάξι, τον εαυτό του δεν τον πλένει ποτέ.
pléni to skilí, pléni to amáksi, ton eaftó tu dhen ton pléni poté
He washes the dog, he washes the car — himself he never washes. (the self is contrasted with two other objects, so it has to be a noun)
The second sentence could not be built with πλένεται: you cannot put a deleted object in a list with the dog and the car.
When the middle has drifted away from "myself"
Some -ομαι verbs stopped being reflexive a long time ago and now describe something that simply happens to the subject: σηκώνομαι is "I get up", not "I lift myself"; κουράζομαι is "I get tired"; στεναχωριέμαι is "I get upset". For these the periphrasis does not translate the same idea back — σήκωσα τον εαυτό μου would be a report of physically hauling your body upright, which is a different (and rather odd) sentence.
Σηκώθηκα στις έξι χωρίς ξυπνητήρι και δεν ξανακοιμήθηκα.
sikóthika stis éksi chorís ksipnitíri ke dhen ksanakimíthika
I got up at six without an alarm and couldn't get back to sleep.
This is why "the middle is the reflexive" is only half true. The -ομαι ending covers a whole family of jobs — passive, reflexive, reciprocal, middle and deponent — mapped out on the mediopassive overview. Only one of those jobs competes with ο εαυτός μου.
A third encoding: the prefix αυτο-
There is one more way to say "self" in Greek, and it belongs to the written language: the learned prefix αυτο-, welded onto the front of the word. It is the reflexive twin of the reciprocal αλληλο- covered on the prefix αλληλο-, and it works the same way — derivation instead of syntax.
On nouns it is thoroughly at home in everyday speech: αυτοπεποίθηση (self-confidence), αυτοεκτίμηση (self-esteem), αυτοέλεγχος (self-control), αυτοκριτική (self-criticism), αυτοάμυνα (self-defence), αυτογνωσία (self-knowledge). On verbs it stays (formal) or (academic) — αυτοκτονώ, αυτοκαταστρέφομαι, αυτοαναιρούμαι ("contradict oneself") — with the one obvious exception that αυτοκτονώ is the ordinary word for taking one's own life.
Έχει τεράστια αυτοπεποίθηση για την ηλικία της.
échi terástia aftopepíthisi ya tin ilikía tis
She has enormous self-confidence for her age.
Ο ισχυρισμός αυτοαναιρείται δύο παραγράφους παρακάτω.
o ischirizmós aftoaneríte dhío paraghráfus parakáto
The claim contradicts itself two paragraphs further down. (academic)
A handful of inherited words show a shortened αυτ- before a vowel — αυτάρκης ("self-sufficient") — but that is frozen vocabulary, not a rule you apply: modern coinages keep αυτο- intact even in front of a vowel (αυτοεκτίμηση, αυτοαξιολόγηση).
The decision in one table
| If the "myself" in your sentence… | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| is bare, and the action is routine self-care | the -ομαι ending | ντύνομαι, ξυρίζομαι |
| follows a preposition | ο εαυτός μου | μιλάω στον εαυτό μου |
| is contrasted, focused or coordinated | ο εαυτός μου | κατηγορώ τον εαυτό μου, όχι εσένα |
| carries an adjective | ο εαυτός μου | ο παλιός μου εαυτός |
| belongs to a verb whose -ομαι form is passive | ο εαυτός μου | αγαπάω τον εαυτό μου |
| names a body part | active verb + possessive | πλένω τα χέρια μου |
| is a fixed abstract concept | the prefix αυτο- | αυτοπεποίθηση, αυτοκριτική |
Common Mistakes
1. Stacking the two encodings. The middle has already discharged the object slot, so there is nothing left for the noun phrase to occupy.
❌ Ξυρίζομαι τον εαυτό μου κάθε δεύτερη μέρα.
Incorrect — ξυρίζομαι has no object slot left. Either ξυρίζομαι on its own, or the active ξυρίζω with a real object.
✅ Ξυρίζομαι κάθε δεύτερη μέρα, αλλιώς με τρώει το πρόσωπό μου.
ksirízome káthe dhéfteri méra, aliós me trói to prósopó mu
I shave every other day, otherwise my face itches.
2. Plugging τον εαυτό μου into an English double-object frame. Buy myself a jacket has no Greek counterpart with two bare objects; the self needs a preposition or nothing at all.
❌ Αγόρασα τον εαυτό μου ένα μπουφάν με το δώρο.
Incorrect — Greek has no double-object frame here; the beneficiary takes για or σε: για τον εαυτό μου.
✅ Αγόρασα ένα μπουφάν για τον εαυτό μου με το δώρο των Χριστουγέννων.
aghórasa éna bufán ya ton eaftó mu me to dhóro ton Christuyénon
I bought myself a jacket with the Christmas bonus.
3. Dropping the preposition because English hides it. He talks about himself becomes a direct object in the learner's head, but μιλάω never takes a person as its object.
❌ Μιλάει τον εαυτό του σε κάθε συζήτηση.
Incorrect — μιλάω takes σε or για, never a bare accusative person: μιλάει για τον εαυτό του.
✅ Μιλάει για τον εαυτό του σε κάθε συζήτηση, ό,τι κι αν λέμε.
milái ya ton eaftó tu se káthe sizítisi, óti ki an léme
He turns every conversation round to himself, whatever we're talking about.
4. Two good sentences that are not the same sentence. Both of these are correct Greek; picking the wrong one does not make an error, it makes a different statement.
Ετοιμάζομαι και σε πέντε λεπτά κατεβαίνω.
etimázome ke se pénde leptá katevéno
I'm getting ready and I'll be down in five minutes. (the ordinary morning sense)
Ετοίμασε τον εαυτό της για τα χειρότερα πριν ανοίξει το γράμμα.
etímase ton eaftó tis ya ta chirótera prin aníksi to ghráma
She braced herself for the worst before she opened the letter. (a deliberate act aimed at the self)
5. "Find myself" is two different idioms. English find oneself means both end up and discover who you are; Greek splits them, and the split runs exactly along this page's line.
Βρέθηκα σε πολύ δύσκολη θέση και δεν ήξερα τι να πω.
vréthika se polí dhískoli thési ke dhen íksera ti na po
I found myself in a very awkward position and didn't know what to say. (the middle — it happened to me)
Βρήκε τον εαυτό του στα σαράντα, όταν άφησε την τράπεζα.
vríke ton eaftó tu sta saránda, ótan áfise tin trápeza
He found himself at forty, when he left the bank. (the noun — the self is what was found)
Key Takeaways
- The middle deletes the object slot; the pronoun fills it. Every other rule on this page is a consequence of that one sentence.
- Use the -ομαι ending for bare, routine self-directed action: πλένομαι, ντύνομαι, χτενίζομαι, ξυρίζομαι, ετοιμάζομαι.
- Use ο εαυτός μου whenever the self needs to behave like a noun phrase: after a preposition, under contrast or μόνο, with an adjective, or coordinated with something else.
- For verbs whose -ομαι form is the plain passive — αγαπιέμαι, κατηγορούμαι, θεωρούμαι, συγχωρούμαι — the pronoun is the only route to the reflexive meaning.
- Never stack them: ×πλένομαι τον εαυτό μου. One encoding per sentence.
- Some middles have drifted to "it happens to me" (σηκώνομαι, κουράζομαι, στεναχωριέμαι) and have no periphrastic equivalent at all.
- The prefix αυτο- is a third, derivational route — everyday in nouns (αυτοπεποίθηση, αυτοκριτική), (formal) in verbs (αυτοαναιρούμαι).
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Start learning Greek →Related Topics
- Reflexive Use of the Middle VoiceB1 — How Greek uses the mediopassive -ομαι ending to say you do something to yourself — πλένομαι (wash), ντύνομαι (get dressed), χτενίζομαι (comb one's hair), ετοιμάζομαι (get ready) — why the ending itself is the 'myself', when the marked τον εαυτό μου is needed instead, and why body parts take active + possessive (πλένω τα χέρια μου).
- The Reflexive ο εαυτός μουB1 — Greek's reflexive is not a pronoun at all — it is the masculine noun εαυτός ('self') with a definite article and a possessive clitic: τον εαυτό μου, στον εαυτό σου, του εαυτού της. Why the noun stays masculine and singular whoever you are talking about, why it can take an adjective (ο παλιός μου εαυτός) and even be a subject (Δεν είναι ο εαυτός του), and how it differs from ο ίδιος and μόνος μου.
- The Mediopassive Voice: OverviewA2 — A map of the -ομαι voice as one system marching through every tense with the same shifting endings — present -ομαι, imperfect -όμουν, aorist -θηκα, perfect έχω + -θεί / είμαι + -μένος — with routes to the detailed form pages.
- The Prefix αλληλο- (mutual action)C1 — The learned reciprocal αλληλο- / αλληλ- is word-formation, not syntax: it is welded into the verb or noun before the sentence starts. Which slot is still productive (mediopassive verbs, coined live in journalism), why the prefix kills the passive reading that the bare middle leaves open, how far the nouns have drifted from 'each other' (αλληλεγγύη, αλληλογραφία, αλληλουχία), where the diaeresis in αλληλοϋποστήριξη comes from, and why αμοιβαίος is usually the better formal choice.
- Deponent Verbs (-ομαι only)B1 — The verbs that exist only in the mediopassive -ομαι form but mean something perfectly active — έρχομαι (come), κάθομαι (sit), γίνομαι (become), θυμάμαι (remember), φοβάμαι (fear), σκέφτομαι (think), εργάζομαι (work) — why there is no ×έρχω, how they conjugate like passives across the tenses, and the unpredictable aorist that is the one real difficulty.