The present perfect — έχω + the invariable -ει form — is Greek's way of saying "I have done" something: an action that is finished, but whose result or relevance is still live right now. Έχω γράψει την αναφορά means the report is done and, crucially, it's done as of this moment. The construction maps neatly onto English have written, which is the good news. The catch, which this page spends most of its time on, is that Greek reaches for its plain past — the aorist — in many places where English insists on the perfect.
Form: έχω + the απαρέμφατο
Conjugate only έχω; leave the -ει form — Greek calls it the απαρέμφατο — frozen. That's the entire mechanic (the overview lays out the full paradigm). The meaning is a completed action viewed from now.
Έχω διαβάσει αυτό το βιβλίο, δεν χρειάζεται να μου το δανείσεις.
écho dhiavási aftó to vivlío, dhen chriázete na mu to dhanísis
I've read this book — you don't need to lend it to me.
Έχουν φύγει όλοι, το γραφείο είναι άδειο.
échun fíyi óli, to ghrafío íne ádhio
Everyone's left — the office is empty.
What it's for: result-now and experience
Two flavours of "present relevance" dominate. The first is result now — the action is over, but its outcome is the point of the sentence:
Έχω χάσει τα γυαλιά μου, δεν βλέπω τίποτα.
écho chási ta yaliá mu, dhen vlépo típota
I've lost my glasses — I can't see a thing.
Έχει ανέβει η θερμοκρασία, ας ανοίξουμε το κλιματιστικό.
échi anévi i thermokrasía, as aníksume to klimatistikó
The temperature has gone up — let's turn on the air conditioning.
The glasses are lost now; the temperature is high now. The second flavour is experience up to now — a life's tally, "have you ever," "I've never":
Δεν έχω πάει ποτέ στην Κρήτη, φέτος όμως θα πάω.
dhen écho pái poté stin Kríti, fétos ómos tha páo
I've never been to Crete, but this year I'm going.
Έχεις ακούσει ποτέ πιο ωραία φωνή από τη δική της;
échis akúsi poté pio oréa foní apó ti dhikí tis;
Have you ever heard a more beautiful voice than hers?
The adverbs that call for the perfect
The present perfect keeps close company with a small set of adverbs: ποτέ ("ever/never"), ήδη ("already"), ακόμα (in the negative, "not yet"). When you see these attached to a "have you…/I've…" idea, the perfect is usually the right choice. (Their exact behaviour, including where the aorist muscles back in, is on the perfect with adverbs.)
Έχω ήδη στείλει το μήνυμα, δες το κινητό σου.
écho ídhi stíli to mínima, dhes to kinitó su
I've already sent the message — check your phone.
Δεν έχω αποφασίσει ακόμα τι θα σπουδάσω.
dhen écho apofasísi akóma ti tha spudháso
I haven't decided yet what I'll study.
The big warning: Greek is not English here
An English speaker's instinct is to use the perfect a great deal — for recent events, for "just," for duration, for "already." Greek uses its aorist far more freely than English uses the simple past, and the perfect is emphatically not the default Greek past. Three points deserve to be nailed down.
A closed past event report normally takes the aorist. With χθες, πέρσι, στις οκτώ or την Τρίτη locating the event in a finished past frame, the aorist is the neutral choice. That does not exclude the perfect from an open interval reaching now (από το πρωί, ως τώρα) or from an experiential/current-record summary that happens to list earlier dates.
Πήγα χθες στον γιατρό και μου έδωσε φάρμακα.
pígha chthes ston yatró ke mu édhose fármaka
I went to the doctor yesterday and he gave me medicine.
Έχω πάει σε αυτόν τον γιατρό ξανά, τον εμπιστεύομαι.
écho pái se aftón ton yatró ksaná, ton embistévome
I've been to this doctor before — I trust him.
Same verb, πάω. In the ordinary report with χθες, Πήγα is natural; leave the tally open ("before") and the perfect is natural. The contrast is between a closed episode and a present-facing record, not simply between "time phrase" and "no time phrase."
Everyday "just" strongly favors μόλις + aorist. Where English routinely says "I've just arrived," neutral conversational Greek normally says "I just arrived":
Μόλις γύρισα από τα ψώνια, άσε με να ξαποστάσω.
mólis yírisa apó ta psónia, áse me na ksapostáso
I've just got back from shopping — let me catch my breath.
Everyday "have you done X?" is often just the aorist. In the flow of conversation, Greeks frequently use the simple past where English uses the perfect — especially for a single recent action:
Τελείωσες τη δουλειά σου ή θέλεις κι άλλο χρόνο;
telíoses ti dhuliá su i thélis ki álo chróno;
Have you finished your work, or do you want more time?
Both common questions about eating are ordinary, but they choose different viewpoints:
Έφαγες τελικά ή να σου βάλω λίγο;
éfaghes teliká i na su válo lígho;
Did you eat in the end, or shall I serve you some?
Έχεις φάει τίποτα σήμερα;
échis fái típota símera;
Have you eaten anything today?
Έφαγες; treats the meal as a bounded occasion; Έχεις φάει; foregrounds the present result — whether you are hungry now. See perfect vs aorist for the full picture.
One context where the perfect is unmistakably right
Beyond the bare adverbs, one very common frame calls for the present perfect almost automatically, and it matches English closely — a good place to build confidence.
After a superlative, in a relative clause. "The best film I've ever seen," "the worst day I've had" — the "so far in my experience" logic is pure present perfect in both languages:
Είναι το καλύτερο βιβλίο που έχω διαβάσει εδώ και χρόνια.
íne to kalítero vivlío pu écho dhiavási edhó ke chrónia
It's the best book I've read in years.
A third trap: "it's the first time that…" — English demands the perfect here ("the first time I've tried"), and Greek does the opposite: it uses the plain present.
Είναι η πρώτη φορά που δοκιμάζω τέτοιο γλυκό.
íne i próti forá pu dhokimázo tétio ghlikó
It's the first time I've tried a sweet like this.
Δεν είναι η πρώτη φορά που μου το λέει αυτό.
dhen íne i próti forá pu mu to léi aftó
It's not the first time he's said that to me.
So when is the perfect the natural choice?
When the sentence is about the standing result or the lifetime tally, rather than asserting an event inside a closed past frame, the perfect is natural — exactly the cases above with ποτέ, ήδη, negative ακόμα, or an open "before/many times." A useful mental test: if you could paraphrase with "as of now, the situation is…" or "in my life so far…," the perfect fits. If you're narrating what happened at a point in time, use the aorist. The full flowchart, with the genuine gray zone in between, is the subject of perfect vs. aorist.
Έχουμε μιλήσει γι' αυτό πολλές φορές, ας μην το ξανασυζητήσουμε.
échume milísi yaftó polés forés, as min to ksanasizitísume
We've talked about this many times — let's not go over it again.
Common Mistakes
1. Confusing a closed past time with an interval still open now. The first takes aorist in a neutral event report; the second can support the perfect.
✅ Έφυγα από το σπίτι στις οκτώ το πρωί.
éfigha apó to spíti stis októ to proí
I left the house at eight in the morning.
✅ Από τις οκτώ δεν έχω φύγει από το γραφείο.
apó tis októ dhen écho fíyi apó to ghrafío
I haven't left the office since eight.
2. Putting the weak pronoun after έχω. The clitic clings to the front of the finite auxiliary, before έχω — never between έχω and the -ει form.
❌ Έχω το δει αυτό το βίντεο.
Incorrect — the weak pronoun goes before έχω: Το έχω δει.
✅ Το έχω δει αυτό το βίντεο, μη μου το χαλάσεις.
to écho dhi aftó to vídeo, mi mu to chalásis
I've seen this video — don't spoil it for me.
3. Putting δεν after έχω. The negator precedes the whole verb complex, so it sits before έχω.
❌ Έχω δεν πάει ποτέ στο εξωτερικό.
Incorrect — δεν comes before έχω: Δεν έχω πάει.
✅ Δεν έχω πάει ποτέ στο εξωτερικό.
dhen écho pái poté sto eksoterikó
I've never been abroad.
4. Using a subjunctive or present form after έχω. Only the fixed -ει form follows the auxiliary.
❌ Δεν έχω φάω τίποτα από το πρωί.
Incorrect — after έχω use the -ει form: Δεν έχω φάει.
✅ Δεν έχω φάει τίποτα από το πρωί, πεινάω πολύ.
dhen écho fái típota apó to proí, pináo polí
I haven't eaten anything since this morning — I'm very hungry.
Key Takeaways
- έχω + -ει = "have done": a finished action with present relevance — a standing result (Έχω χάσει τα κλειδιά) or a lifetime experience (Έχω πάει, Δεν έχω πάει ποτέ).
- It pairs with ποτέ, ήδη, (negative) ακόμα; those are its signature adverbs.
- A closed past event report normally takes the aorist (Πήγα χθες); an open interval reaching now or a current-record summary can take the perfect.
- Everyday "just" normally = μόλις + aorist (Μόλις γύρισα), and English "for X years / since" of an ongoing state = the Greek present (Μένω εδώ δέκα χρόνια).
- Greek uses the aorist for single recent events far more than English does; the perfect is for standing results and open-ended experience, not narration.
Related Topics
- Perfect vs AoristB1 — When to say έχω γράψει and when to say έγραψα — the aorist for a past event or finite series viewed as bounded, especially with a closed event-time anchor, and the perfect for experience or a result connected to now. Greek often prefers an aorist where English uses a perfect, but time phrases and translations are cues rather than exceptionless switches.
- Perfect With ήδη, ακόμα, ποτέB1 — The adverbs that pull a sentence toward the present perfect — ήδη (already), δεν... ακόμα (not yet), ποτέ (ever/never), and τελευταία (lately) — where each one sits in the clause, how they map onto English already/yet/ever/never, and why ποτέ needs a δεν to mean 'never'.
- The Perfect TensesB1 — Greek builds every perfect analytically — the auxiliary έχω (or its past είχα, or θα έχω) plus one invariable form, the -ει απαρέμφατο. Only the auxiliary conjugates; the second word never changes, which is exactly what makes the whole system easy once you have that one form.