The Augment in the Imperfect | Greek Grammar

Look at a full imperfect of γράφω "write" and one letter seems to come and go without warning:

έγραφα, έγραφες, έγραφε, γράφαμε, γράφατε, έγραφαν.

The stressed ε- sits at the front of four forms and simply isn't there in the other two. This little ε- is the augment, an inherited past-tense marker, and once you understand the single job it does in Modern Greek you will know exactly when it appears and when it drops — no memorization required. This page is about that behaviour in the imperfect; for the paradigm as a whole see the imperfect of Class Α verbs, and for the augment across the whole verb system, the augment overview.

The one rule: the augment exists to carry the stress

In older Greek the augment was a grammatical marker of past time in its own right. In the modern language it has quietly lost that job and kept only a phonological one: a past-tense form is stressed on the third-from-last syllable (the antepenult), and the augment is added only when the word would otherwise be too short to put the stress there.

Watch it work on γράφω. The imperfect endings are -α, -ες, -ε, -αμε, -ατε, -αν. Attach them to the stem γραφ-:

1sg γραφ + α → "γράφα" would be just two syllables (γρά-φα), with nowhere to place an antepenultimate stress. So Greek prefixes έ-: έγραφα (έ-γρα-φα), stress safely on the antepenult.
1pl γραφ + αμε → γράφαμε is already three syllables (γρά-φα-με). The stress lands on the antepenult with no help needed, so no augment.

That is the whole story. The augment is a crutch for the stress, added only when the ending is short:

Person	Form	Syllables	Augment?
εγώ	έγραφα	έ-γρα-φα	yes
εσύ	έγραφες	έ-γρα-φες	yes
αυτός	έγραφε	έ-γρα-φε	yes
εμείς	γράφαμε	γρά-φα-με	no
εσείς	γράφατε	γρά-φα-τε	no
αυτοί	έγραφαν	έ-γρα-φαν	yes

💡

The practical learner's rule: on a short Class Α verb, the augment appears on the three singular forms and the 3rd plural (έγραφα, έγραφες, έγραφε, έγραφαν) and disappears in the 1st and 2nd plural (γράφαμε, γράφατε). Stress on the antepenult everywhere.

Κάθε βράδυ έγραφα λίγες σελίδες στο ημερολόγιό μου.

káthe vrádhi éghrafa líyes selídhes sto imerolóyió mu

Every night I would write a few pages in my diary.

Γράφαμε γράμματα στους παππούδες μας κάθε Χριστούγεννα.

ghráfame ghrámata stus papúdhes mas káthe Christúyena

We used to write letters to our grandparents every Christmas.

The same rhythm governs every short Class Α verb — παίζω "play," πλένω "wash," and their kin:

Τα παιδιά έπαιζαν στην αυλή μέχρι να σκοτεινιάσει.

ta pedhiá épezan stin avlí méchri na skotiniási

The children were playing in the yard until it got dark.

Παίζατε καλά μαζί όταν ήσασταν μικροί.

pézate kalá mazí ótan ísastan mikrí

You used to play well together when you were little.

Έπλενε τα πιάτα κάθε βράδυ χωρίς παράπονο.

éplene ta piáta káthe vrádhi chorís parápono

He washed the dishes every night without complaint.

The 3rd plural can go either way

The 3rd plural has two endings, -αν and -ανε, and the choice quietly decides whether you need the augment. έγραφαν takes the augment (γρά-φαν is only two syllables); but the fuller colloquial γράφανε already has three (γρά-φα-νε), so it drops it. Both are correct — γράφανε is a touch more (informal). This is the same logic as everywhere else: add the ε- only when the word is short.

Class Β verbs never take the augment

The verbs that build their imperfect on the long -ούσ- suffix — the Class Β / contracted verbs like αγαπώ, μιλώ, περπατώ — are always long enough to host the stress themselves. αγαπούσα (α-γα-πού-σα) already has four syllables; there is no room and no need for an augment. Class Β simply never has one:

Αγαπούσε τη δουλειά της, το έβλεπες στα μάτια της.

aghapúse ti dhuliá tis, to évlepes sta mátia tis

She loved her work; you could see it in her eyes.

Μιλούσαμε ώρες στο τηλέφωνο όταν ήμασταν φοιτητές.

milúsame óres sto tiléfono ótan ímastan fitités

We used to talk for hours on the phone when we were students.

Compound verbs: the augment goes inside

Verbs built from a prefix plus a root behave more subtly, because the prefix already lends the word extra syllables. Two things can happen.

The word is already long enough, so no ε- is added. καταλαβαίνω "understand" has its imperfect καταλάβαινα (κα-τα-λά-βαι-να) — the stress already sits on the antepenult (on the root syllable λά), so there is no short syllable to prop up and nothing is prefixed:

Δεν καταλάβαινα τίποτα από αυτά που έλεγε.

dhen katalávena típota apó aftá pu éleye

I didn't understand anything of what he was saying.

Or, in the more learned register, an internal augment appears between the prefix and the root. περιγράφω "describe" splits into περι- + γραφ-, and formal Greek inserts the ε there: περιέγραφε (πε-ρι-έ-γρα-φε). Everyday demotic instead pulls the stress back onto the prefix and skips the ε: περίγραφε. Both are heard; the internal-augment form is (formal), common in careful writing and the news:

Ο δημοσιογράφος περιέγραφε τη σκηνή με κάθε λεπτομέρεια.

o dhimosioghráfos periéghrafe ti skiní me káthe leptoméria

The journalist was describing the scene in every detail.

The parallel aorist system has its own compound quirks — κατάλαβα, περιέγραψα — and they are gathered on the aorist augment.

A note on register and dialect

Because the augment is now purely a stress-helper in the standard language, careful and older Greek sometimes keeps it even where the modern norm drops it — you will meet εγράφαμε or εδιάβαζε in literature, formal prose, and set phrases, with the ε- unstressed and simply riding along:

Στα γράμματά του εδιάβαζε ξανά τα λόγια της μητέρας του.

sta ghrámatá tu edhiávaze ksaná ta lóyia tis mitéras tu

In his letters he would read his mother's words over and over.

That εδιάβαζε is (literary); in everyday speech you would say διάβαζε. Several dialects — northern varieties especially — retain the augment far more freely than the standard, so hearing an "extra" ε- on a past verb is a regional flavour, not a mistake.

Common Mistakes

1. Dropping the augment where the 1st singular needs it. A short-stem verb has nowhere to put the stress without the ε-, so ×γράφα is impossible.

❌ Δεν γράφα ποτέ γράμματα, προτιμούσα να τηλεφωνώ.

Incorrect — the 1sg imperfect needs the augment to host the stress: έγραφα.

✅ Δεν έγραφα ποτέ γράμματα, προτιμούσα να τηλεφωνώ.

dhen éghrafa poté ghrámata, protimúsa na tilefonó

I never used to write letters; I preferred to phone.

2. Carrying the stressed augment into the plural. In the 1st and 2nd plural the standard language drops the ε- entirely; it is never stressed there.

❌ Κάθε μέρα έπαιζαμε στην παραλία μέχρι το ηλιοβασίλεμα.

Incorrect — the 1st plural drops the augment: παίζαμε.

✅ Κάθε μέρα παίζαμε στην παραλία μέχρι το ηλιοβασίλεμα.

káthe méra pézame stin paralía méchri to iliovasílema

Every day we played on the beach until sunset.

3. Adding an augment to a Class Β verb. The -ούσα type is already long; it never takes ε-.

❌ Παλιά εμιλούσαμε μόνο ελληνικά στο σπίτι.

Incorrect — Class Β verbs take no augment: μιλούσαμε.

✅ Παλιά μιλούσαμε μόνο ελληνικά στο σπίτι.

paliá milúsame móno eliniká sto spíti

We used to speak only Greek at home.

4. Front-augmenting a compound verb. The augment never lands in front of the prefix: either the word is already long enough and takes none (καταλάβαινα), or — formally — the ε goes inside (περιέγραφε).

❌ Δεν έκαταλάβαινα γιατί ήταν θυμωμένος μαζί μου.

Incorrect — no front augment on a compound: καταλάβαινα.

✅ Δεν καταλάβαινα γιατί ήταν θυμωμένος μαζί μου.

dhen katalávena yatí ítan thimoménos mazí mu

I didn't understand why he was angry with me.

Key Takeaways

The imperfect augment is a stressed ε- whose only modern job is to give the stress an antepenultimate syllable to sit on.
It appears when the word would otherwise be too short — the singular and 3rd plural of short Class Α verbs (έγραφα … έγραφαν) — and drops in the 1st and 2nd plural (γράφαμε, γράφατε).
Class Β (-ούσα) verbs are always long enough and never take it (αγαπούσα, μιλούσα).
Compound verbs put the augment inside (formal περιέγραφε), or need none at all because the word is already long enough (καταλάβαινα; demotic περίγραφε retracts the stress onto the prefix περι-) — never in front.
Retained augments (εγράφαμε, εδιάβαζε) are literary/formal or dialectal, not standard everyday speech.

Now practice Greek

Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.

Start learning Greek →