Aorist Mediopassive: -θηκα

Every mediopassive verb — the -ομαι group, whether it reads as a true passive (αγαπιέμαι "be loved"), a reflexive/middle (ντύνομαι "get dressed"), or a deponent with plainly active meaning (φοβάμαι "be afraid") — needs a way to say it happened once and finished. That is the aorist mediopassive, and its trademark ending is -θηκα. It is the perfective, single-event past of the whole voice: I was loved, I got dressed, I got scared, I was born. If you already know the active aorist in -σα, think of -θηκα as its mediopassive twin — a different suffix for a different voice, but the same job.

The one thing to fix in your head from the start: this is a completed past. Greek splits the mediopassive past into two, exactly as it does the active. The -θηκα aorist is the single, bounded event; the -όμουν imperfect is the ongoing or repeated one. Κουράστηκα is I got tired (and now I am); κουραζόμουν is I was getting tired / I used to get tired. Keep that pair in mind — we come back to it.

The endings

Take αγαπιέμαι ("to be loved"), whose aorist is αγαπήθηκα:

Notice how close this is to the active endings. The active aorist runs -α, -ες, -ε, -αμε, -ατε, -αν; the mediopassive simply glues those same person-endings onto a -θηκ- block: -θηκα, -θηκες, -θηκε, -θήκαμε, -θήκατε, -θηκαν. Learn the block and the persons fall out for free.

Where the accent sits — and why it jumps

There is one movement you must not miss. The stress in this tense is antepenultimate — it sits on the third syllable from the end all the way through the paradigm. In the singular and the 3rd plural, that third-from-last syllable is the one right before -θηκα: αγαπήθηκα, ντύθηκα, κουράστηκα. But the 1st and 2nd plural endings, -θήκαμε / -θήκατε, are one syllable longer, which drags the antepenult forward onto the -θή- itself: αγαπηθήκαμε, κουραστήκαμε. So the written accent appears to jump one step to the right in "we" and "you (pl.)". This is not a quirk of individual verbs — it is the universal Greek rule that stress may never fall further back than the third syllable, so the longer ending pushes it along.

What -θηκα actually means: three readings

The -ομαι voice covers three jobs, and the -θηκα aorist is the completed past of all three at once. The form does not change; only the sense does, and context tells you which.

1. True passive — the subject was acted on. It was written, it was built, it was found.

2. Reflexive / middle — the subject did it to or for itself. I got dressed, I washed, I got up.

3. Deponent — an active meaning locked inside the -ομαι shape. A large group of everyday verbs — φοβάμαι (be afraid), θυμάμαι (remember), κοιμάμαι (sleep), λυπάμαι (be sorry) — have no active form at all, yet their meaning is fully active. Their aorist still lands on -θηκα.

The pair to burn in: -θηκα aorist vs -όμουν imperfect

This is where English gives you no help, because English marks one loved / was being loved with tense-plus-auxiliary, while Greek marks it with a whole different ending. The same verb, κουράζομαι, gives you both:

The first is one bounded event with a clear end; the second is a background state that stretched over time. Choosing between them is a whole skill of its own — the mediopassive imperfect page drills the -όμουν side.

The consonant variants — a preview

You will already have spotted that κουράστηκα ends in -στηκα, not plain -θηκα, and that γράφομαι gives γράφτηκα. That -θ- does not sit still: when the verb's stem ends in a consonant, the -θ- fuses with it and you get -φτηκα (labial stems: γράφτηκα, κρύφτηκα), -χτηκα (velar stems: ρίχτηκα, τυλίχτηκα), or -στηκα (sibilant/dental stems: κουράστηκα, αναγκάστηκα). These are completely predictable from the consonant, in the same way the active -ψα / -ξα / -σα merges are — and they get their own page. Plain -θηκα stays plain on vowel-stems and -νω verbs (ντύθηκα, σηκώθηκα, χάθηκα). Master the endings and the accent here first; then read the -στηκα / -χτηκα variants for the fusion rules.

A few verbs opt out — they are suppletive

Two of the most common mediopassive verbs refuse the -θηκα pattern and switch root instead: έρχομαι ("come") → ήρθα, and γίνομαι ("become, happen") → έγινα. And κάθομαι ("sit") takes an active-looking aorist, κάθισα, not a -θηκα form. These are high-frequency and simply have to be learned as they are; they sit with the irregular and suppletive aorists.

Common Mistakes

1. Using the -όμουν imperfect for a single, finished event. A one-off action that reached its end is the aorist.

2. Regularizing a suppletive verb. έρχομαι has no ×ερχόθηκα; its aorist is ήρθα.

3. Not moving the accent in the 1st/2nd plural. The longer ending forces the stress forward onto -θή-.

4. Borrowing an active -σα ending for a deponent. κοιμάμαι is mediopassive; there is no ×κοιμήσα.

Key Takeaways

• -θηκα is the perfective (single-event) past of the whole -ομαι voice: passive, reflexive/middle, and deponent alike.
• Endings: -θηκα, -θηκες, -θηκε, -θήκαμε, -θήκατε, -θηκαν. The stress is antepenultimate — on the syllable before -θηκα in the singular and 3rd plural (ντύθηκα), and forward onto -θή- in the 1st/2nd plural (ντυθήκαμε).
• Hold the aspect pair apart: -θηκα aorist = got tired (finished); -όμουν imperfect = was getting / used to get tired.
• When the stem ends in a consonant, -θ- fuses into -φτηκα / -χτηκα / -στηκα, exactly as the active merges do — see the variants page.
• A handful of top-frequency verbs are suppletive: έρχομαι → ήρθα, γίνομαι → έγινα, κάθομαι → κάθισα.