Mediopassive Personal Endings | Greek Grammar

Greek has a second voice, the mediopassive (μεσοπαθητική φωνή), and it comes with a completely separate set of personal endings. There is no gentle way to say this: they look nothing like the active endings you just learned, so they have to be memorised as a fresh set. The good news is that they are just as regular — one set for the present, one for the past — and once you know them you unlock the Greek passive ("it is done"), the reflexive and reciprocal ("we wash / we greet each other"), and a large group of extremely common verbs that exist only here.

The present mediopassive endings

Person	Ending	πλένομαι "I wash (myself)"	Reading
εγώ	-ομαι	πλένομαι	plénome
εσύ	-εσαι	πλένεσαι	plénese
αυτός/-ή/-ό	-εται	πλένεται	plénete
εμείς	-όμαστε	πλενόμαστε	plenómaste
εσείς	-εστε	πλένεστε	pléneste
αυτοί/-ές/-ά	-ονται	πλένονται	plénonde

(The 2nd plural also has an older, heavier variant -όσαστε; you will meet it occasionally, but everyday Greek uses -εστε.) Notice that the accent moves onto the ending in the 1st plural (πλενόμαστε) — that shift is a normal feature of the paradigm.

The past mediopassive endings

Person	Ending	ερχόμουν "I was coming"	Reading
εγώ	-όμουν	ερχόμουν	erchómun
εσύ	-όσουν	ερχόσουν	erchósun
αυτός/-ή/-ό	-όταν	ερχόταν	erchótan
εμείς	-όμασταν	ερχόμασταν	erchómastan
εσείς	-όσασταν	ερχόσασταν	erchósastan
αυτοί/-ές/-ά	-ονταν	έρχονταν	érchondan

A trap worth flagging: the present 1st plural -όμαστε and the past 1st plural -όμασταν differ by a single letter (the final -ν plus a vowel), and so do -εστε / -όσασταν. Read carefully. (In speech you will also hear a colloquial 3rd-plural -όντουσαν — ερχόντουσαν — alongside έρχονταν; it is (informal).)

The αι that you can hear but must not spell as ε

Look again at the singular and 3rd-plural present endings: -ομαι, -εσαι, -εται, -ονται. Every one ends in the sound /e/ — plénome, plénese, plénete, plénonde — but it is always spelled -αι, never -ε. This is a fixed orthographic rule of the mediopassive, and it is one of the most common places learners (and careless native writers) slip, because the ear gives no clue. The full logic of which /e/ is written ε and which αι is on spelling the /e/ sound; for these endings, just take it as a rule: mediopassive → αι.

This matters because it creates true homophone pairs with the active. The mediopassive 3rd singular -εται and the active 2nd plural -ετε sound identical — yínete — and only the spelling tells them apart:

Τι γίνεται εδώ; Γιατί φωνάζετε όλοι μαζί;

ti yínete edhó; yatí fonázete óli mazí;

What's going on here? Why are you all shouting at once?

Γίνεται (it happens — mediopassive 3sg, spelled -εται) and φωνάζετε (you shout — active 2pl, spelled -ετε) are pronounced the same and mean completely different things. The αι is the whole difference.

A worked verb: έρχομαι "come"

Person	Present	Past
εγώ	έρχομαι	ερχόμουν
εσύ	έρχεσαι	ερχόσουν
αυτός/-ή/-ό	έρχεται	ερχόταν
εμείς	ερχόμαστε	ερχόμασταν
εσείς	έρχεστε	ερχόσασταν
αυτοί/-ές/-ά	έρχονται	έρχονταν

Έρχομαι αμέσως, μόλις τελειώσω εδώ.

érchome amésos, mólis telióso edhó

I'm coming right away, as soon as I finish here.

Πώς αισθάνεσαι σήμερα, λίγο καλύτερα;

pos esthánese símera, lígho kalítera;

How are you feeling today, a bit better?

Αυτά τα πράγματα δεν λύνονται σε μία μέρα.

aftá ta prághmata dhen línonde se mía méra

These things don't get sorted out in a day.

Ετοιμαζόμαστε να βγούμε, σε δέκα λεπτά είμαστε έτοιμοι.

etimazómaste na vghúme, se dhéka leptá ímaste étimi

We're getting ready to go out, we'll be ready in ten minutes.

Deponents: verbs that live only here

This is the fact that makes the mediopassive endings non-optional even for a beginner: a large group of the commonest verbs in the language has no active form at all. They are deponent — mediopassive in shape, active in meaning. You cannot say ×έρχω "I come" or ×κάθω "I sit"; the only forms that exist are έρχομαι, κάθομαι.

The core list to know early: έρχομαι (come), κάθομαι (sit), γίνομαι (become), σκέφτομαι (think), δέχομαι (accept), χρειάζομαι (need), εργάζομαι (work), φαίνομαι (seem), plus a contracted -άμαι sub-group — θυμάμαι (remember), κοιμάμαι (sleep), φοβάμαι (be afraid), λυπάμαι (be sorry) — whose singular endings contract to -άμαι, -άσαι, -άται. The whole deponent inventory and the -άμαι contraction are laid out on deponent verbs; which passive stems the regular verbs take is on passive present classes.

Κάθομαι εδώ και σε περιμένω πάνω από μισή ώρα.

káthome edhó ke se periméno páno apó misí óra

I've been sitting here waiting for you for over half an hour.

Δεν θυμάμαι καθόλου πού παρκάρισα το αυτοκίνητο.

dhen thimáme kathólu pu parkárisa to aftokínito

I can't remember at all where I parked the car.

Όταν ήμουν φοιτητής, σηκωνόμουν πάντα πολύ αργά.

ótan ímun fititís, sikonómun pánda polí arghá

When I was a student, I always used to get up very late.

Τα παιδιά μαζεύονταν κάθε απόγευμα στην πλατεία για μπάλα.

ta pedhyá mazévondan káthe apóyevma stin platía ya bála

The kids used to gather in the square every afternoon for a kickabout.

💡

Treat the mediopassive endings as a second alphabet you learn whole, not as a tweak of the active. The tell-tale signature is the -μαι / -σαι / -ται / -νται shape (spelled with αι) in the present and the -μουν / -σουν / -ταν shape in the past. The moment you see those, the verb is mediopassive — either a genuine passive/reflexive, or a deponent with an active meaning.

Common Mistakes

1. Spelling the endings with ε instead of αι. The mediopassive singular and 3rd-plural endings are fixed with αι, however they sound.

❌ Έρχομε αύριο το πρωί με το πρώτο πλοίο.

Incorrect — the 1sg mediopassive is -ομαι, spelled with αι: έρχομαι.

✅ Έρχομαι αύριο το πρωί με το πρώτο πλοίο.

érchome ávrio to proí me to próto plío

I'm coming tomorrow morning on the first ferry.

2. Inventing an active form for a deponent. έρχομαι has no active; there is no ×έρχω.

❌ Έρχω σπίτι κατευθείαν μετά τη δουλειά.

Incorrect — έρχομαι is deponent (mediopassive only): έρχομαι σπίτι.

✅ Έρχομαι σπίτι κατευθείαν μετά τη δουλειά.

érchome spíti katefthían metá ti dhulyá

I come straight home after work.

3. Writing the 3rd-singular -εται as the active 2nd-plural -ετε. They are homophones; only the spelling shows the voice.

❌ Τι γίνετε με το ραντεβού μας την Παρασκευή;

Incorrect — 'what's happening' is the 3sg mediopassive γίνεται, with αι.

✅ Τι γίνεται με το ραντεβού μας την Παρασκευή;

ti yínete me to randevú mas tin paraskeví;

What's happening with our appointment on Friday?

4. Using a present ending where the meaning is past. "Yesterday I was sleeping" needs the past -όμουν, not the present -άμαι.

❌ Χθες όλη μέρα κοιμάμαι γιατί ήμουν άρρωστος.

Incorrect — for a past state use the past mediopassive: κοιμόμουν.

✅ Χθες όλη μέρα κοιμόμουν γιατί ήμουν άρρωστος.

chthes óli méra kimómun yatí ímun árostos

Yesterday I slept all day because I was ill.

Key Takeaways

The mediopassive has its own endings, unrelated to the active: present -ομαι, -εσαι, -εται, -όμαστε, -εστε, -ονται; past -όμουν, -όσουν, -όταν, -όμασταν, -όσασταν, -ονταν.
The -μαι / -σαι / -ται / -νται endings are always spelled with αι, even though they sound like /e/ — a fixed rule, and a frequent spelling slip.
Consequently -εται (mediopassive 3sg) and -ετε (active 2pl) are homophones distinguished only in writing.
Watch the minimal pairs: present -όμαστε vs past -όμασταν differ by one letter.
A large group of everyday verbs — deponents like έρχομαι, κάθομαι, γίνομαι, θυμάμαι — exists only in the mediopassive, with active meaning; full treatment is on deponent verbs.

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