Greek has one extra voice that English has to build out of spare parts. Where English stacks be and a participle to say is washed, was being washed, has been washed, Greek changes the ending of the verb itself. That ending has a family of shapes — -ομαι in the present, -όμουν in the past, -θηκα for a finished event, and a two-part perfect with έχω + -θεί or είμαι + -μένος — and the whole family is called the mediopassive (μεσοπαθητική φωνή). This page is the map of that system: one voice, marching through every tense with the same set of endings shifted per tense. The detailed drills live on the pages linked below; here you see how the pieces fit together.
If you have not yet met what the -ομαι voice means — its five overlapping jobs of passive, reflexive, reciprocal, middle and deponent — read Active and Mediopassive Voice first. This page assumes that concept and focuses on the forms across tenses.
The whole voice in one table
Here is the single most useful thing to fix in your head. Take three verbs — a reflexive πλένομαι (wash oneself), a passive γράφομαι (be written), and a deponent έρχομαι (come) — and watch the same endings march tense by tense:
| Tense | Ending | πλένομαι (wash oneself) | γράφομαι (be written) | έρχομαι (come, dep.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present | -ομαι | πλένομαι | γράφεται | έρχομαι |
| Imperfect | -όμουν | πλενόμουν | γραφόταν | ερχόμουν |
| Aorist | -θηκα | πλύθηκα | γράφτηκε | ήρθα |
| Perfect (event) | έχω + -θεί | έχω πλυθεί | έχει γραφτεί | έχω έρθει |
| Perfect (state) | είμαι + -μένος | είμαι πλυμένος | είναι γραμμένο | — |
Read the table down each column and the logic is unmistakable: it is one verb wearing five tense-coats. The passive γράφομαι and the deponent έρχομαι — which have nothing to do with each other in meaning — take the very same tense-endings, because those endings belong to the voice, not to the meaning. Learn the five shapes once and they apply to every -ομαι verb in the language. (The deponent has no resulting-state perfect, because "having come" is not a state you can point at — hence the dash.)
Έρχομαι κατευθείαν, μόλις κλείσω τον υπολογιστή.
érchome katefthían, mólis klíso ton ipoloyistí
I'm coming right away, as soon as I shut down the computer.
Ντύνομαι πάντα στα σκούρα τον χειμώνα.
dínome pánda sta skúra ton chimóna
I always dress in dark colours in winter.
Present: -ομαι — the action now
The present is where you meet the voice first, and it splits into three spelling-classes depending on the verb's active conjugation (plain -ομαι, the -ιέμαι of -άω verbs, and the -ούμαι / -άμαι of contract verbs). Which class a verb takes is mapped on Mediopassive Present Forms. What all three share is the sound trap: the endings end in /e/ but are always written with αι (γράφεται, not ×γράφετε when you mean "is written").
Το φαγητό σερβίρεται στις οκτώ ακριβώς, μην αργήσεις.
to fayitó servírete stis októ akrivós, min aryísis
Dinner is served at eight sharp — don't be late.
Οι εγγραφές γίνονται μόνο τις καθημερινές το πρωί.
i engrafés yínonde móno tis kathimerinés to proí
Registrations are done only on weekdays in the morning.
Imperfect: -όμουν — the action going on in the past
Shift the whole thing into the past-continuous and the endings become -όμουν, -όσουν, -όταν, -όμασταν, -όσασταν, -ονταν: I was being washed, it was being written, I was coming. The everyday reading is was ‑ing or used to. Full paradigm and the accent details are on Mediopassive Imperfect (-όμουν).
Όταν ήμουν μικρός, το σπίτι θερμαινόταν με ξύλα.
ótan ímun mikrós, to spíti thermenótan me ksíla
When I was little, the house was heated with wood.
Aorist: -θηκα — the finished event
For a single, completed past event Greek switches to the aorist mediopassive in -θηκα (with the stem-driven faces -φτηκα / -χτηκα / -στηκα): it got written, I got dressed, I got scared. This is the workhorse past of the whole voice, and it is laid out on Mediopassive Aorist (-θηκα).
Το γεφύρι επισκευάστηκε μετά την πλημμύρα του Δεκεμβρίου.
to yefíri episkevástike metá tin plimíra tu Dhekemvríu
The bridge was repaired after December's flood.
Οι δυο τους γνωρίστηκαν στα φοιτητικά τους χρόνια.
i dhio tus ghnorístikan sta fititiká tus chrónia
The two of them met during their university years.
Perfect: two engines, έχω + -θεί and είμαι + -μένος
The perfect is the one slot where the voice offers two constructions with different meanings. The event is reported with έχω + the invariable -θεί form (έχει γραφτεί = it has been written); the resulting state is described with είμαι + the agreeing -μένος participle (είναι γραμμένο = it stands written). The whole passive perfect system across present, past and future is consolidated on the perfect in the passive.
Όλα έχουν ετοιμαστεί για την υποδοχή των καλεσμένων.
óla échun etimastí ya tin ipodhochí ton kalezménon
Everything has been prepared for the guests' reception.
Το δωμάτιο είναι ήδη τακτοποιημένο, μπορείς να ξεκουραστείς.
to dhomátio íne ídhi taktopiiméno, borís na ksekurastís
The room is already tidied up — you can rest.
Why this system feels alien to English
Something subtler is going on than "Greek marks voice with an ending." In English the passive is one recipe — be + participle — and only the be conjugates: is built, was built, has been built, will be built. The participle built never moves. Greek has no fixed piece at all: πλένομαι, πλενόμουν, πλύθηκα, πλυμένος share not one ending between them, and they are not even built on one stem — πλεν- carries the ongoing forms, πλυ- the finished ones. That is why you cannot learn the mediopassive as "the Greek passive" and be done. What you are actually learning is the aspect split you already met in the active — imperfective πλενόμουν against perfective πλύθηκα — run a second time through a second set of endings. Learners who stall here have almost always stalled on aspect, not on voice.
The rest of the voice
The system above is the skeleton. The subgroup fills in the flesh: the deponent verbs that live only in this voice (έρχομαι, θυμάμαι, κοιμάμαι); the reflexive and reciprocal readings; how to name the agent with από; the -μένος participle itself; and the subtler middle-voice meanings. Use this page as the index; go deep on each page in turn.
Common Mistakes
1. Translating "is delivered" with είμαι + participle. English be + -ed looks like είμαι + -μένος, but the Greek pair names a finished state, not the action in progress.
❌ Το δέμα είναι παραδομένο αύριο το πρωί.
Incorrect — είμαι + -μένος is a state ('it is already delivered'), so it cannot take αύριο. The action is Το δέμα παραδίδεται.
✅ Το δέμα παραδίδεται αύριο το πρωί.
to dhéma paradhídhete ávrio to proí
The parcel is (being) delivered tomorrow morning.
2. Leaving the present ending in a past-time sentence. With a past-time marker like χθες, the present -εται/-ονται is wrong; a finished event needs the aorist -θηκα.
❌ Χθες όλα τα ρούχα πλένονται στο χέρι.
Incorrect — χθες + a finished action needs the aorist: πλύθηκαν.
✅ Χθες όλα τα ρούχα πλύθηκαν στο χέρι.
chthes óla ta rúcha plíthikan sto chéri
Yesterday all the clothes were washed by hand.
3. Spelling the ending with -ε instead of -αι. Across every tense the mediopassive endings sound like /e/ but are written with αι.
❌ Ντρέπομε λίγο να το πω, αλλά δεν κατάλαβα τίποτα.
Incorrect — the 1sg mediopassive ending is -ομαι, spelled with αι: ντρέπομαι.
✅ Ντρέπομαι λίγο να το πω, αλλά δεν κατάλαβα τίποτα.
drépome lígho na to po, alá dhen katálava típota
I'm a bit embarrassed to say it, but I didn't understand a thing.
4. Using the resulting-state form for an ongoing action. Both of the following are correct Greek, but they mean different things — the present ending is the action underway, the -μένος form is the finished state.
Το ψωμί ψήνεται ακόμα, θα είναι έτοιμο σε δέκα λεπτά.
to psomí psínete akóma, tha íne étimo se dhéka leptá
The bread is still baking — it'll be ready in ten minutes. (action underway)
Το ψωμί είναι ψημένο, μπορείς να το κόψεις.
to psomí íne psiméno, borís na to kópsis
The bread is baked — you can slice it. (finished state)
Key Takeaways
- The mediopassive is one voice with five tense-shapes: present -ομαι, imperfect -όμουν, aorist -θηκα, perfect έχω + -θεί (event) / είμαι + -μένος (state).
- The endings belong to the voice, not the meaning — a passive (γράφομαι) and a deponent (έρχομαι) march through the identical set.
- Unlike English, there is no "be + participle" recipe: voice is fused into the verb's own ending, so there is nothing to translate word-for-word.
- Use this page as the index; each tense has its own drill page, and the meaning side lives on Active and Mediopassive Voice.
Now practice Greek
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Greek →Related Topics
- Active and Mediopassive VoiceA2 — Greek marks voice on the verb's ending, not with an auxiliary — active -ω versus the mediopassive -ομαι that covers passive, reflexive, reciprocal, middle and deponent meanings all at once.
- Mediopassive Present FormsB1 — A recognition map from a verb's active conjugation class to its present mediopassive shape — Α → -ομαι, Β1 → -ιέμαι, Β2 → -ούμαι, plus the closed -άμαι deponent set — routing to the three pages that drill each full paradigm.
- Deponent Verbs (-ομαι only)B1 — The verbs that exist only in the mediopassive -ομαι form but mean something perfectly active — έρχομαι (come), κάθομαι (sit), γίνομαι (become), θυμάμαι (remember), φοβάμαι (fear), σκέφτομαι (think), εργάζομαι (work) — why there is no ×έρχω, how they conjugate like passives across the tenses, and the unpredictable aorist that is the one real difficulty.