Imperfect of έχω (είχα) | Greek Grammar

The past of έχω is είχα "I had." Like its present, it is a workhorse: it says what you owned, what you felt, what was the matter, and — crucially — it is the verb that later builds the Greek pluperfect ("I had written"). And it shares είμαι's convenient quirk: έχω has no separate aorist in ordinary use, so είχα is the one and only simple past. You never choose between an imperfect and an aorist of "have"; είχα covers the whole field, from "I had a dog" to "I used to have a dog."

The paradigm

Person	Form	Reading	Meaning
εγώ	είχα	ícha	I had
εσύ	είχες	íches	you had (sg)
αυτός/-ή/-ό	είχε	íche	he / she / it had
εμείς	είχαμε	íchame	we had
εσείς	είχατε	íchate	you had (pl/formal)
αυτοί/-ές/-ά	είχαν(ε)	íchan(e)	they had

The 3rd plural has the usual optional -ε: είχαν or είχανε, the fuller one a shade more colloquial (informal). Beyond that the endings are the plain active past set (-α, -ες, -ε, -αμε, -ατε, -αν) that every Class Α verb uses.

είχα is spelled ει-, not η-

Here is a point worth flagging carefully, because it is easy to get wrong once you learn about the augment. Most Greek verbs form their past by prefixing a stressed ε- (γράφω → έγραφα) or, on a few verbs, an η- (θέλω → ήθελα). It is tempting to file είχα under the same heading and imagine an "η-augment." It is not. The past of έχω is simply built on the stem ειχ-, written with ει and pronounced [i] — the í of ícha. There is no η anywhere in it. Treat είχα as its own irregular stem, learned whole, exactly like ήμουν.

The pronunciation follows from the spelling, and it separates έχω from είχα cleanly. The χ is the raspy of ch in both:

έχω = écho — never "ého" and never "égho." The χ does not soften to a g.
είχα = ícha — the ει is a plain [i], and again the χ stays a hard ch: never "ígha."

Keep those two apart in your ear (écho / ícha) and you will keep them apart on the page (έχω / είχα).

Possession and states in the past

The bread-and-butter use. As in the present, the thing possessed is a direct object in the accusative:

Είχα ένα σκύλο όταν ήμουν παιδί, τον έλεγαν Άρη.

ícha éna skílo ótan ímun pedhí, ton éleghan Ári

I had a dog when I was a child; his name was Aris.

Είχαμε ένα παλιό εξοχικό κοντά στη θάλασσα.

íchame éna palió eksochikó kondá sti thálasa

We had an old cottage near the sea.

Πόσα χρήματα είχες πάνω σου εκείνη τη στιγμή;

pósa chrímata íches páno su ekíni ti stighmí;

How much money did you have on you at that moment?

Because it is imperfective, είχα easily reads as "used to have" — an open-ended past possession or an ongoing state, with no implied endpoint:

Οι γείτονες είχαν πάντα ανοιχτή την πόρτα τους.

i yítones íchan pánda anichtí tin pórta tus

The neighbours always had their door open.

Δεν είχε καθόλου όρεξη για φαγητό εκείνη τη μέρα.

dhen íche kathólu óreksi ya fayitó ekíni ti méra

He had no appetite for food at all that day.

The idioms travel into the past too

Many everyday expressions with έχω — where English reaches for "to be" — simply shift to είχα in the past. Τι έχεις; "what's the matter?" becomes Τι είχες;; έχω δίκιο "I'm right" becomes είχα δίκιο "I was right":

Τι είχες χθες; Σε είδα λίγο κουρασμένο.

ti íches chthes; se ídha lígho kurazméno

What was wrong with you yesterday? You seemed a little tired.

Είχατε δίκιο τελικά, δεν έπρεπε να τον εμπιστευτούμε.

íchate dhíkio teliká, dhen éprepe na ton embisteftúme

You were right in the end; we shouldn't have trusted him.

The big job: είχα builds the pluperfect

Everything above treats είχα as a full verb, "had." But it has a second life, and it is the reason this form matters far beyond A2. Just as present έχω is the auxiliary of the perfect (έχω γράψει "I have written"), past είχα is the auxiliary of the pluperfect — the "had done" tense that places one past event before another:

Όταν έφτασα στο σπίτι, είχε ήδη νυχτώσει.

ótan éftasa sto spíti, íche ídhi nichtósi

When I got home, it had already gotten dark.

Δεν το ήξερα, γιατί δεν μου το είχες πει.

dhen to íksera, yatí dhen mu to íches pi

I didn't know, because you hadn't told me.

Here είχε νυχτώσει and είχες πει are not "had darkness" and "had a word" — they are single verbs in the pluperfect: είχα plus a fixed, non-changing form (νυχτώσει, πει). Only είχα conjugates for person; the second element never moves. The whole machine — how that fixed form is built and exactly when to reach for the pluperfect — is laid out on the pluperfect. For now, simply register that είχα wears two hats: the full verb "had," and the helper that builds the "had done" tense.

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The two hats look identical on the page, and the difference is what comes after. είχα + a noun in the accusative = possession (είχα ένα σκύλο "I had a dog"). είχα + a fixed verb form = pluperfect (είχα δει "I had seen"). Same word, two grammars.

Negation

Put δεν in front, like any verb:

Δεν είχα χρόνο να σε πάρω τηλέφωνο, συγγνώμη.

dhen ícha chróno na se páro tiléfono, sighnómi

I didn't have time to call you, sorry.

Common Mistakes

1. Over-regularizing the stem to ×έχα. The past of έχω is not built by prefixing an augment to the present stem εχ-. It is the irregular είχα.

❌ Έχα ένα ποδήλατο όταν ήμουν μικρός.

Incorrect — the past of έχω is είχα, not ×έχα.

✅ Είχα ένα ποδήλατο όταν ήμουν μικρός.

ícha éna podhílato ótan ímun mikrós

I had a bicycle when I was little.

2. Spelling it with η-, as if it were an augment. είχα is written with ει, not η. There is no ×ήχα.

❌ Ήχα πολλή δουλειά εκείνο το διάστημα.

Incorrect — the form is είχα, spelled with ει-, not an η- augment.

✅ Είχα πολλή δουλειά εκείνο το διάστημα.

ícha polí dhuliá ekíno to dhiástima

I had a lot of work during that period.

3. Leaving έχω in the present when the time is clearly past. A past-time word forces είχα.

❌ Χθες έχω πονοκέφαλο και δεν βγήκα καθόλου.

Incorrect — a past time needs the past tense: Χθες είχα πονοκέφαλο.

✅ Χθες είχα πονοκέφαλο και δεν βγήκα καθόλου.

chthes ícha ponokéfalo ke dhen vyíka kathólu

Yesterday I had a headache and didn't go out at all.

4. Conjugating the second verb in the pluperfect. After είχα the main verb stays in its fixed form; it never takes past endings.

❌ Είχα τελείωνα τη δουλειά πριν φύγω.

Incorrect — after είχα the main verb is the fixed form: είχα τελειώσει.

✅ Είχα τελειώσει τη δουλειά πριν φύγω.

ícha teliósi ti dhuliá prin fígho

I had finished the work before I left.

Key Takeaways

The past of έχω is the imperfect είχα, είχες, είχε, είχαμε, είχατε, είχαν(ε) — and it is the only simple past, since έχω has no everyday aorist.
είχα is spelled with ει and pronounced [i] (ícha); it is not an η-augment, and the χ stays a hard ch (έχω = écho, είχα = ícha).
Core sense: past possession and states (object in the accusative), easily reading as "used to have."
Idioms travel with it: Τι είχες; "what was wrong?", είχες δίκιο "you were right."
Its second, bigger job is as the pluperfect auxiliary: είχα + a fixed form (είχα γράψει "I had written"), where the second verb never changes.

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