αγαπάω is the verb the whole -άω/-ώ class is named after, so this card carries the paradigm in full — both members of every doublet — and its siblings cede to it. What earns the verb a page beyond that is what happened to its participle: αγαπημένος drifted off the verb entirely and now means favourite at least as often as it means beloved.
Every form αγαπάω has
| Slot | Forms | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Present | αγαπάω/αγαπώ, αγαπάς, αγαπάει/αγαπά, αγαπάμε/αγαπούμε, αγαπάτε, αγαπάνε/αγαπούν(ε) | -άω (informal) beside -ώ (formal); both standard |
| Imperfect | αγαπούσα — also αγάπαγα (informal) | stress fixed on -ού- |
| Aorist | αγάπησα | recessive accent: αγάπησα, αγαπήσαμε |
| Dependent (θα, να) | αγαπήσω | against imperfective θα αγαπάω |
| Imperative | αγάπα / αγαπάτε · αγάπησε / αγαπήστε | imperfective · perfective |
| Perfect | έχω / είχα αγαπήσει | |
| Gerund | αγαπώντας | -ώντας, as everywhere in Class Β |
| Mediopassive | αγαπιέμαι, αγαπιέσαι, αγαπιέται, αγαπιόμαστε, αγαπιέστε, αγαπιούνται | note the -ι-: never ×αγαπάμαι |
| Passive aorist | αγαπήθηκα | |
| Participle | αγαπημένος, -η, -ο | see below — it has a second life |
Which member of a doublet you pick is register, not correctness; the argument lives on Class Β1 in the present.
Δεν το λέμε συχνά μεταξύ μας, αλλά σ' αγαπώ.
dhen to léme sichná metaksí mas, alá s' aghapó
We don't say it much in this family, but I love you.
The participle that became two words
| Word | Reading | Triggered by |
|---|---|---|
αγαπημένος
| favourite | a possessive: το αγαπημένο μου βιβλίο |
| ο αγαπημένος μου | my sweetheart, my beloved | standing alone, of a person |
| αγαπητός | dear, well-liked | a different suffix — the -τός adjective |
Βάλε το αγαπημένο μου τραγούδι, αυτό που ακούγαμε στο αυτοκίνητο.
vále to aghapiméno mu traghúdhi, aftó pu akúghame sto aftokínito
Put on my favourite song, the one we used to play in the car.
Ο αγαπημένος της είναι ναυτικός, οπότε τον βλέπει δύο μήνες τον χρόνο.
o aghapiménos tis íne naftikós, opóte ton vlépi dhío mínes ton chróno
Her sweetheart is a sailor, so she sees him two months a year.
αγαπητός is not the participle at all but the old verbal adjective, and it is the word that opens a letter (formal):
Αγαπητή κυρία Βλάχου, σας στέλνω συνημμένα το βιογραφικό μου.
aghapití kiría Vláchu, sas stélno sinimména to vioghrafikó mu
Dear Mrs Vlachou, I am sending you my CV as an attachment.
Slots this verb leaves empty
- No experiencer frame. There is no ×Μου αγαπάει ο καφές built on the model of Μου αρέσει ο καφές. αγαπάω is a plain transitive: nominative lover, accusative loved, always.
- No living active participle. The learned αγαπών, αγαπώσα survives only inside scriptural quotation (archaic); modern Greek uses the gerund αγαπώντας or a relative clause.
- No cognate object. You do not ×αγαπάω μια αγάπη; the noun η αγάπη stands on its own.
- No reflexive mediopassive. αγαπιέμαι means I am loved, by somebody else. "Love yourself" is αγαπώ τον εαυτό μου, with the full reflexive noun phrase, and there is no shortcut.
Government
The object is a plain accusative, and it is normally a person, a place or something abstract. For an everyday preference in food, weather or pastimes Greek reaches instead for μου αρέσει — but the accusative is never blocked, and αγαπάω with a thing simply claims more:
Αγαπάω τον καφέ — δεν ξεκινάω μέρα χωρίς δύο εσπρέσο.
aghapáo ton kafé — dhen ksekináo méra chorís dhío espréso
I love coffee — I don't start a day without two espressos.
Μου αρέσει και το τσάι, αλλά δεν θα ξυπνούσα νωρίτερα γι' αυτό.
mu arési ke to tsái, alá dhen tha ksipnúsa norítera y' aftó
I like tea too, but I wouldn't get up earlier for it.
Αγαπάει τα ζώα περισσότερο από τους ανθρώπους, το λέει και η ίδια.
aghapái ta zóa perisótero apó tus anthrópus, to léi ke i ídhia
She loves animals more than people — she says so herself.
The aorist αγάπησα does not mean "I loved (for years)". A state has no endpoint to package, so the perfective stem takes the one bounded moment the verb offers: the moment love began, or a love now closed. The long, open-ended loving is the imperfect αγαπούσα or the plain present.
Την αγάπησα σιγά σιγά, δεν ήταν κεραυνοβόλος έρωτας.
tin aghápisa sighá sighá, dhen ítan keravnovólos érotas
I fell for her slowly — it wasn't love at first sight.
The reciprocal is the mediopassive plural, and it is very common — the wider pattern is on reciprocal mediopassives:
Αγαπιούνται, απλώς δεν ξέρουν να το δείξουν.
aghapiúnde, aplós dhen ksérun na to dhíksun
They love each other, they just don't know how to show it.
Το τραγούδι αγαπήθηκε όσο κανένα άλλο εκείνο το καλοκαίρι.
to traghúdhi aghapíthike óso kanéna álo ekíno to kalokéri
That song was loved like no other that summer.
Set phrases
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Σ' αγαπώ | I love you — the everyday form, elided |
| Με αγάπη | with love — signing off a card (informal) |
| αγαπημένε μου | my darling — vocative |
| Αγαπάτε αλλήλους | love one another (literary), from the Gospel |
| αγαπώ τον εαυτό μου | love myself — never ×αγαπιέμαι for this |
| όπως αγαπάτε | as you wish — a courtesy formula (formal) |
Αγάπα αυτό που κάνεις, αλλιώς θα σε φάει η δουλειά.
aghápa aftó pu kánis, aliós tha se fái i dhuliá
Love what you do, or the job will eat you alive.
The neighbouring card μιλάω runs on the same endings, and the whole class is indexed on principal parts.
Key Takeaways
- The doublets are αγαπάω/αγαπώ, αγαπάει/αγαπά, αγαπάμε/αγαπούμε, αγαπάνε/αγαπούν — register, not right and wrong. Only αγαπάς and αγαπάτε have no twin.
- Principal parts: αγαπάω · αγαπούσα · αγάπησα · αγαπήσω · αγαπημένος, mediopassive αγαπιέμαι.
- αγαπημένος means favourite with a thing and beloved with a person; αγαπητός is the separate -τός adjective that opens letters.
- The object is a bare accusative — no genitive experiencer frame exists for this verb.
- The aorist is inceptive: αγάπησα is "I fell in love", not "I loved for years".
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- μιλάω/μιλώ (to speak/talk)A1 — μιλάω needs somebody spoken to, not something said — three frames (σε, με, για), the bare accusative that names a language, and a mediopassive μιλιέμαι that does three unrelated jobs: a language is spoken, a person is unapproachable, two people are not on speaking terms.
- ζητάω/ζητώ (to ask for/request)A2 — Requesting, not questioning: the person is genitive or από, never accusative-plus-thing. Three ending sets are all in use (ζητάς, ζητά, ζητεί), and the learned mediopassive gives you the ΖΗΤΕΙΤΑΙ of every shop window and το ζητούμενο, 'the point at issue'.
- Present Tense: Class Β1 (αγαπάω/-ώ)A1 — The full present of the everyday Β1 contract verbs — αγαπάω/αγαπώ, μιλάω, ρωτάω, περπατάω, κοιτάω, ξεχνάω, περνάω — with the -άω/-ώ doublet in the 'I' and 'they' forms, the fixed -άς 'you' ending, and the crossover error ×αγαπείς that spells it as if it were Class Α.
- Reciprocal Use of the Middle VoiceB1 — How the mediopassive says 'each other' — αγαπιούνται, φιλιούνται, συναντιούνται, αγκαλιάζονται, τσακώνονται, δεν μιλιούνται — and why the requirement is two parties, not a plural subject: Συναντιέμαι με τη Μαρία is just as reciprocal. Covers the singular + με construction, the two disambiguators μεταξύ τους and ο ένας τον άλλον (with the neuter το ένα το άλλο and the case forms), the actives that are reciprocal on their own, and the overlap with the plain passive.