Direct-Object Clitics (Accusative) | Greek Grammar

These ten little words are the ordinary Greek way of saying "me", "you", "him", "her", "it" and "them" when the verb is acting on that person or thing. They are not an abbreviation or a shortcut: for a plain, unemphatic object they are the only natural option, and the stressed forms εμένα, εσένα, αυτόν are the marked alternative you reach for when the object is the news. What the case itself is doing — and which verbs assign it — belongs to the accusative as direct object. This page is about the ten pronouns: their shapes, their agreement, and the one habit that has to be rebuilt from scratch.

The forms

	Singular	Plural
1st person	με — me	μας — us
2nd person	σε — you	σας — you (pl. or polite)
3rd masculine	τον — him, it	τους — them
3rd feminine	την — her, it	τις — them
3rd neuter	το — it	τα — them

The third-person row is the accusative definite article with no changes at all, which is why it costs nothing to learn once you know the article.

Με βλέπεις; Είμαι πίσω από την κολόνα.

me vlépis; íme píso apó tin kolóna

Can you see me? I'm behind the pillar.

Τον πέτυχα τυχαία στο μετρό και κουβεντιάσαμε μισή ώρα.

ton péticha tichéa sto metró ke kuvendiásame misí óra

I ran into him by chance on the metro and we chatted for half an hour.

Τα κλειδιά τα βρήκα κάτω από τον καναπέ.

ta klidhiá ta vríka káto apó ton kanapé

I found the keys under the sofa.

The object comes first

Here is the habit to rebuild. English puts the object pronoun after the verb — I see him, she called us — and puts it there without exception. Greek puts it in front, and equally without exception in ordinary statements and questions.

English	Greek	Word for word
I know him.	Τον ξέρω.	him I-know
She called us.	Μας πήρε τηλέφωνο.	us she-took phone
I'll buy them.	Θα τα αγοράσω.	will them I-buy
I don't know her.	Δεν την ξέρω.	not her I-know

Two of those rows show the second half of the rule: when a particle such as δεν, θα, να, ας or μην is present, it comes first and the clitic slips in between the particle and the verb. The clitic never gets in front of the particle, and nothing ever gets between the clitic and the verb. The complete trigger list, plus the two contexts that send the clitic behind the verb, is on where clitics go.

Θα σε πάω εγώ στο αεροδρόμιο, μην πάρεις ταξί.

tha se páo eghó sto aerodhrómio, min páris taksí

I'll drive you to the airport — don't get a taxi.

Σε πήρα τηλέφωνο τρεις φορές αλλά δεν το σήκωσες.

se píra tiléfono tris forés alá dhen to síkoses

I rang you three times but you didn't pick up.

The third person agrees with the Greek noun, not with English "it"

This is where English quietly sabotages you. English sorts its third-person pronouns by what the thing is: people get he or she, everything else gets it. Greek sorts them by the grammatical gender of the noun, and objects have gender. An umbrella is feminine, so it is την. A computer is masculine, so it is τον. A car is neuter, so it is το.

Πού είναι η ομπρέλα μου; Νομίζω ότι την ξέχασα στο λεωφορείο.

pu íne i ombréla mu; nomízo óti tin kséchasa sto leoforío

Where's my umbrella? I think I left it on the bus.

Ο υπολογιστής είναι δέκα χρονών αλλά τον κρατάω ακόμα.

o ipoloyistís íne dhéka chronón alá ton kratáo akóma

The computer is ten years old but I'm still hanging on to it.

Το είδα στην τηλεόραση αλλά δεν κατάλαβα τίποτα.

to ídha stin tileórasi alá dhen katálava típota

I saw it on television but I didn't understand a thing.

The practical consequence is that you cannot choose the pronoun from the English sentence at all. You have to remember the article the noun came with, and pick the clitic to match — which is one more reason to learn every noun as η ομπρέλα, never as bare ομπρέλα.

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The mapping is mechanical once you have the article: ο → τον, η → την, το → το, οι (m.) → τους, οι (f.) → τις, τα → τα. You are not translating "it"; you are converting an article you already know into its accusative form. Say the noun's article silently to yourself and the pronoun falls out.

The -ν on τον and την, and why it matters more here than anywhere else

Both τον and την end in a -ν that behaves the way the final-ν rule describes: it survives before a vowel and before κ, π, τ, ξ, ψ, μπ, ντ, γκ, τσ, τζ, and it drops before other consonants.

For the feminine clitic that means a real alternation: την before those sounds, τη elsewhere.

Τη Μαρία τη γνώρισα σε ένα σεμινάριο πέρσι.

ti María ti ghnórisa se éna seminário pérsi

I met Maria at a seminar last year.

Την προκαταβολή την πλήρωσα ήδη, μην ανησυχείς.

tin prokatavolí tin plírosa ídhi, min anisichís

I've already paid the deposit, don't worry.

The masculine τον is a different story, and it is the one place where a missing letter changes the sentence. Strip the -ν and you get το — which is the neuter clitic. So τον είδα is "I saw him" and το είδα is "I saw it", and the -ν is doing all of that work by itself. Modern practice therefore keeps the -ν on masculine τον essentially always, even before a consonant that the old rule would strip it before.

Τον είδα να μπαίνει στο ασανσέρ με δύο βαλίτσες.

ton ídha na béni sto asansér me dhío valítses

I saw him getting into the lift with two suitcases.

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These two sentences are not stylistic variants of each other: Τον φώναξα is "I called him", Το φώναξα is "I shouted it". Nothing else in the sentence distinguishes them. If you are ever tempted to treat the final -ν as decoration, this is the pair to remember.

τες: the form that only appears behind the verb

One detail almost no beginner course mentions. The feminine plural has two shapes. In front of the verb it is τις, as in the table above. When the clitic follows the verb — which happens after a positive command — careful usage switches to τες.

Πάρε τες μαζί σου, θα τις χρειαστείς το βράδυ.

páre tes mazí su, tha tis chriastís to vrádhi

Take them with you, you'll need them this evening.

Both forms appear in that one sentence, chosen purely by position. Nothing similar happens in the other genders: masculine τους and neuter τα keep one shape on both sides of the verb. You will also hear τις used postverbally by plenty of speakers; τες is the form recommended in careful writing and the one you should recognise instantly when it turns up.

When you use a clitic at all

Greek reaches for a clitic the moment the object is already identifiable — which, in connected speech, is most of the time. A full noun phrase is repeated only when the referent is genuinely new or genuinely at risk of being confused with something else. English behaves the same way, so this transfers; what does not transfer is the tolerance for repetition.

Τις συναδέλφους μου τις βλέπω μόνο στις γιορτές.

tis sinadhélfus mu tis vlépo móno stis yortés

My colleagues I only see over the holidays.

Την ταυτότητά μου την έχω πάντα στο πορτοφόλι.

tin taftótitá mu tin écho pánda sto portofóli

My ID I always keep in my wallet.

Both of those front the object and then repeat it as a clitic — the colleagues, I see them — which is completely ordinary Greek rather than emphasis. That construction has its own page, clitic doubling.

Common Mistakes

1. Putting the clitic after the verb, English-style. This is the single most common learner error in the language and it survives long after everything else is fixed.

❌ Είδα τον στο πάρτι και δεν μου μίλησε καθόλου.

Incorrect in standard Greek — a plain statement puts the object clitic in front of the verb: Τον είδα στο πάρτι.

✅ Τον είδα στο πάρτι και δεν μου μίλησε καθόλου.

ton ídha sto párti ke dhen mu mílise kathólu

I saw him at the party and he didn't speak to me at all.

2. Using the neuter το because English says "it". The gender comes from the Greek noun, and here that noun is feminine.

❌ Η ζακέτα μου έμεινε στο εστιατόριο και το κράτησαν στο ταμείο.

Incorrect — ζακέτα is feminine, so the clitic must be too: την κράτησαν στο ταμείο.

✅ Η ζακέτα μου έμεινε στο εστιατόριο και την κράτησαν στο ταμείο.

i zakéta mu émine sto estiatório ke tin krátisan sto tamío

I left my cardigan at the restaurant and they kept it at the till.

3. Using τους as an all-purpose "them". English them has no gender; the Greek accusative plural has three forms, and a feminine group takes τις.

❌ Τις συναδέλφους μου δεν τους βλέπω σχεδόν ποτέ έξω από τη δουλειά.

Incorrect — a feminine plural direct object takes τις: δεν τις βλέπω.

✅ Τις συναδέλφους μου δεν τις βλέπω σχεδόν ποτέ έξω από τη δουλειά.

tis sinadhélfus mu dhen tis vlépo schedhón poté ékso apó ti dhuliá

I hardly ever see my colleagues outside work.

4. Repeating the noun instead of pronouncing a clitic. Not an error of grammar — both sentences below are correct — but the second one lands like a written report rather than speech, and it is a reliable giveaway.

Αγόρασα το βιβλίο την Τρίτη και το τελείωσα σε δύο μέρες.

aghórasa to vivlío tin Tríti ke to telíosa se dhío méres

I bought the book on Tuesday and finished it in two days. (natural — the clitic carries the second mention)

Αγόρασα το βιβλίο την Τρίτη και τελείωσα το βιβλίο σε δύο μέρες.

aghórasa to vivlío tin Tríti ke telíosa to vivlío se dhío méres

I bought the book on Tuesday and finished the book in two days. (over-explicit — a Greek speaker hears the repeated noun as deliberate insistence)

Key Takeaways

The accusative clitics are με, σε, τον, την, το, μας, σας, τους, τις, τα, and the third-person row is identical to the accusative definite article.
In statements and questions they go in front of the finite verb, and behind any particle: Τον ξέρω, Δεν την ξέρω, Θα τα αγοράσω. A positive command sends them behind the verb.
The third person agrees with the Greek noun's gender, not with English it: η ομπρέλα → την, ο υπολογιστής → τον, το αυτοκίνητο → το.
The -ν of masculine τον is not optional in practice — it is the only thing separating τον είδα ("I saw him") from το είδα ("I saw it"). Feminine την/τη follows the ordinary final-ν rule.
The feminine plural has a postverbal form τες (Πάρε τες) beside the preverbal τις; the other genders have only one shape.
A clitic is the default second mention of an object. Repeating the full noun is grammatical but reads as insistence.

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