αγοράζω (to buy) | Greek Grammar

There is nothing hard about conjugating αγοράζω. The hard part is that Greek uses it far less often than an English speaker expects: most everyday buying is done with παίρνω, and reaching for αγοράζω every time makes you sound like a receipt. This card gives the forms quickly and then spends its space on where the verb actually belongs.

Principal parts

Slot	Form
Present	αγοράζω, αγοράζεις, αγοράζει, αγοράζουμε, αγοράζετε, αγοράζουν(ε)
Imperfect	αγόραζα, αγόραζες, αγόραζε, αγοράζαμε, αγοράζατε, αγόραζαν
Aorist	αγόρασα, αγόρασες, αγόρασε, αγοράσαμε, αγοράσατε, αγόρασαν
After θα / να	αγοράσω, αγοράσεις, αγοράσει, αγοράσουμε, αγοράσετε, αγοράσουν
Command	αγόρασε / αγοράστε
Perfect / pluperfect	έχω / είχα αγοράσει
Mediopassive	αγοράζομαι — aorist αγοράστηκε, perfect έχει αγοραστεί
Gerund / participle	αγοράζοντας · αγορασμένος

Two small notes. The ζ goes to σ, not ξ — αγόρασα, never ×αγόραξα — which is the majority route for -ζω verbs but not the only one (παίζω → έπαιξα, αλλάζω → άλλαξα); the regular aorist sorts the two groups out. And there is no augment anywhere in the aorist: αγοράζω is long enough that the stress already falls on the third syllable from the end, so nothing needs to be prefixed to carry it.

αγοράζω or παίρνω;

Situation	What a Greek says
bread, cigarettes, a coffee	παίρνω — Πάρε ψωμί.
picking things up on the way home	παίρνω — Πήρα ό,τι χρειαζόμασταν.
a car, a flat, a fridge	αγοράζω — Αγόρασα αυτοκίνητο.
naming the price or the terms	αγοράζω — Το αγόρασα με δόσεις.
the transaction as a legal fact	αγοράζω(also formal) — Το ακίνητο αγοράστηκε το 2019.

Both verbs are correct for any of these; the difference is what you draw attention to. παίρνω says only that the thing came into your hands, which is all a shopping errand needs. αγοράζω puts the money on the table — it foregrounds that this was a purchase, with a price and a decision behind it. That is exactly why it sounds odd about a loaf of bread and exactly right about a fridge. παίρνω has the wider verb; πουλάω is the other side of the same counter.

Πάρε και λίγο ψωμί, τελείωσε.

páre ke lígho psomí, telíose

Grab some bread too, we're out.

Αγοράσαμε επιτέλους ψυγείο, το παλιό είχε πεθάνει.

aghorásame epitélus psiyío, to palió íche petháni

We finally bought a fridge — the old one had died.

Government

Frame	Example	Reading
accusative	Αγόρασα εισιτήρια.	the goods
genitive clitic	Της αγόρασα λουλούδια.	who it is for
bare accusative	Το αγόρασα δέκα ευρώ.	the price — no preposition
για accusative	Το αγόρασα για δέκα ευρώ.	the price, spelled out
με accusative	με κάρτα, με δόσεις	how you paid
από accusative	από το ίντερνετ	where you got it

Του αγόρασα ένα ρολόι για την αποφοίτησή του.

tu aghórasa éna rolói ya tin apofítisí tu

I bought him a watch for his graduation.

Το αγόρασα δεκαπέντε ευρώ και δεν το μετάνιωσα.

to aghórasa dhekapénde evró ke dhen to metániosa

I got it for fifteen euros and I've never regretted it.

Το αγόρασα για διακόσια ευρώ, μεταχειρισμένο.

to aghórasa ya dhiakósia evró, metachirizméno

I bought it for two hundred euros, second-hand.

💡

Both price frames are good Greek, and buying and selling verbs are the ones that allow για at all. The bare accusative is the more idiomatic — it is the same case Greek uses for measure and distance, described on the accusative of measure. Use για when you want the figure itself in focus, as in a haggle.

Το αγοράσαμε με δόσεις γιατί αλλιώς δεν έβγαινε.

to aghorásame me dhósis yatí aliós dhen évyene

We bought it in instalments because otherwise the numbers didn't work.

Το σπίτι αγοράστηκε πέρσι από ένα ζευγάρι Γερμανών.

to spíti aghorástike pérsi apó éna zevghári Yermanón

The house was bought last year by a German couple.

η αγορά — two nouns in one

The noun off this verb carries both the purchase and the market, and context is the only thing separating them: η αγορά ενός σπιτιού is the buying of a house, στην αγορά is down at the market. Neither one means the shopping.

Η αγορά ενός σπιτιού θέλει πολλή γραφειοκρατία.

i aghorá enós spitiú théli polí ghrafiokratía

Buying a house takes a lot of paperwork.

What αγοράζω does not have

An aorist in ξ — does not exist. No ×αγόραξα, no ×να αγοράξω.
An objectless "go shopping" — does not exist. The object can drop in a habitual statement — Αγοράζω μόνο από πρώτο χέρι — but αγοράζω never names the errand itself. That is ψωνίζω, or πάω για ψώνια, and the bags you come home with are τα ψώνια, never ×οι αγορές in ordinary speech.
An "afford" reading — does not exist. "I can't afford it" is not built on this verb: δεν μπορώ να το πληρώσω, or (informal) δεν μου παίρνει.

Πάμε για ψώνια το Σάββατο το πρωί;

páme ya psónia to Sávato to proí;

Shall we go shopping on Saturday morning?

Set phrases

Phrase	Meaning
αγοράζω με δόσεις	buy in instalments
αγοράζω από πρώτο χέρι	buy direct, from the first owner
Πού το αγόρασες;	where did you get it?
τον αγόρασαν (informal)	they bought him off
αγοράζω γουρούνι στο σακί (proverbial)	buy a pig in a poke, buy blind
Δεν το αγοράζω (informal, recent)	I don't buy it — a calque on English, still felt as slang

Μου είπε ότι κόλλησε η κίνηση, αλλά δεν το αγοράζω.

mu ípe óti kólise i kínisi, alá dhen to aghorázo

He told me he was stuck in traffic, but I'm not buying it.

Key Takeaways

αγοράζω · αγόραζα · αγόρασα · να αγοράσω · αγόρασε / αγοράστε · έχω αγοράσει · αγορασμένος.
The ζ goes to σ: αγόρασα, never ×αγόραξα — and there is no augment, because the stress already has a syllable to sit on.
παίρνω does the everyday shopping; αγοράζω marks a priced, deliberate purchase.
The price is a bare accusative (Το αγόρασα δέκα ευρώ), with για available when you want the figure in focus; the beneficiary is a genitive clitic.
η αγορά = the purchase or the market. "The shopping" is τα ψώνια.

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