English splits this territory across four verbs — lose, miss, waste, disappear. Greek uses one verb and a change of voice. Learning χάνω well means learning to hear which of the four a Greek sentence is doing, and that turns almost entirely on whether the verb is active or mediopassive.
Principal parts
| Slot | Forms | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Present | χάνω, χάνεις, χάνει, χάνουμε, χάνετε, χάνουν(ε) | lose, miss, waste |
| Imperfect | έχανα, έχανες, έχανε, χάναμε, χάνατε, έχαναν | |
| Aorist | έχασα, έχασες, έχασε, χάσαμε, χάσατε, έχασαν | the -ν- of the present drops; -σα lands on bare χα- |
| Dependent | χάσω — θα χάσω, να χάσω | |
| Imperative | χάσε / χάστε | rare in the active; see below |
| Perfect | έχω / είχα χάσει | |
| Gerund | χάνοντας | |
| Mediopassive | χάνομαι, imperfect χανόμουν, aorist χάθηκα, dependent χαθώ | get lost, go missing, vanish |
| Mediopassive imperative | Χάσου! / Χαθείτε! | two different stems — see the mediopassive imperative |
| -μένος participle | χαμένος, -η, -ο | lost; as a noun, ο χαμένος = the loser |
There is no ×έχανσα. Learners build it because the present shows a -ν-, but that -ν- belongs to the imperfective stem only; the perfective stem is bare χα-, which is why the -θηκα aorist also comes out as χά-θηκα rather than χάν-θηκα. The active imperative χάσε is real but genuinely uncommon: what you hear is the negative Μη χάσεις! ("don't miss it!") and the mediopassive Χάσου!
Lose, miss, waste, vanish
Voice splits the four into two piles, and inside the active pile the object decides everything. A thing gives you lose, a departure or an appointment gives you miss, a stretch of time gives you waste — three English verbs with nothing in the Greek verb to tell them apart, so read the object first. Switch to the mediopassive and the object goes altogether: what is left is go missing, or vanish.
Έχασα το τελευταίο λεωφορείο και γύρισα με τα πόδια.
échasa to teleftéo leoforío ke yírisa me ta pódhia
I missed the last bus and walked home.
Χάσαμε τρεις ώρες περιμένοντας στα επείγοντα.
chásame tris óres periménondas sta epíghonda
We wasted three hours waiting in A&E.
Χάθηκα στα σοκάκια της Πλάκας και άργησα μισή ώρα.
cháthika sta sokákia tis Plákas ke áryisa misí óra
I got lost in the back streets of Plaka and turned up half an hour late.
Πού χάθηκες; Έχω να σε δω από τον Μάρτιο.
pu cháthikes; écho na se dho apó ton Mártio
Where have you disappeared to? I haven't seen you since March.
Μου χάθηκε: the loss nobody committed
Run one key through the whole system and the voice contrast becomes visible: Έχασα το κλειδί puts the blame on me, Χάθηκε το κλειδί reports the key as simply gone, and Χάθηκα says I am the one who is lost. Then Greek adds a fourth option English has no way to copy — a genitive clitic naming the person the loss happened to:
Μου χάθηκε το πορτοφόλι μέσα στο σπίτι και το ψάχνω δύο μέρες.
mu cháthike to portofóli mésa sto spíti ke to psáchno dhío méres
My wallet's gone missing somewhere in the house and I've been hunting for it for two days.
Government
| Frame | Example | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| accusative object | Έχασα τα κλειδιά μου. | lose a thing |
| accusative: transport, appointment, chance | Έχασα το τρένο / την ευκαιρία. | miss, not lose |
| accusative: time | Μη χάνεις τον χρόνο σου. | waste |
χάνω από
| Χάσαμε από τον Ολυμπιακό. | lose to an opponent |
χάνω σε
| Χάνει σε ταχύτητα. | lose out in a respect |
| mediopassive, no object | Χάθηκε το κλειδί. | go missing, vanish |
| genitive clitic + mediopassive | Μου χάθηκαν τα γυαλιά. | the loss happened to me |
Note that the opponent takes από, where English says to: Χάσαμε από τη Δανία 2-1. κερδίζω does not mirror this — there the beaten opponent is a bare accusative, Τον κερδίσαμε, so a sentence carrying both verbs changes construction halfway through: Χάσαμε από τον Ολυμπιακό στο πρωτάθλημα και τον κερδίσαμε στο κύπελλο.
Δεν έχεις τίποτα να χάσεις, στείλε το βιογραφικό σου.
dhen échis típota na chásis, stíle to vioghrafikó su
You've got nothing to lose — send your CV in.
Έχασε την ψυχραιμία του και φώναξε μπροστά σε όλους.
échase tin psichremía tu ke fónakse brostá se ólus
He lost his temper and shouted in front of everyone.
Set phrases
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Χάσου! / Χαθείτε! | get lost (informal, rude) |
| Πού χάθηκες; | where have you been all this time? |
| τα χάνω | be thrown, lose the plot (informal) |
| χάνω την ψυχραιμία μου | lose my temper |
| χάνω τον ύπνο μου | lose sleep over something |
| χάνω τα λόγια μου | be lost for words |
| χαμένος κόπος | wasted effort |
| χαμένος από χέρι | a lost cause from the start |
| βγαίνω χαμένος / κερδισμένος | come off worse / better |
Τα έχασα εντελώς όταν μου το είπε και δεν ήξερα τι να απαντήσω.
ta échasa endelós ótan mu to ípe ke dhen íksera ti na apandíso
I was completely thrown when he told me and I didn't know what to say.
Βγήκαμε χαμένοι κι από τις δύο συμφωνίες.
vyíkame chaméni ki apó tis dhío simfoníes
We came off worse on both deals.
Είναι χαμένος κόπος, κανείς δεν πρόκειται να το διαβάσει.
íne chaménos kópos, kanís dhen prókite na to dhiavási
It's wasted effort — nobody's going to read it.
Χάσου από δω, δεν θέλω να σε ξαναδώ.
chásu apó dho, dhen thélo na se ksanadhó
Get lost — I don't want to see you again. (informal, genuinely rude)
Key Takeaways
- χάνω · έχανα · έχασα · χάσω · έχω χάσει, mediopassive χάνομαι · χάθηκα. No ×έχανσα: the perfective stem is bare χα-.
- The active covers lose, miss (a bus, a chance) and waste (time); the mediopassive covers go missing and get lost.
- Μου χάθηκε το πορτοφόλι — the thing is the subject, the person is a genitive clitic, and no blame is assigned. This construction has no English equivalent.
- Opponents take από: Χάσαμε από τον Ολυμπιακό.
- χαμένος is both the participle and a live noun (ο χαμένος = the loser), and it anchors half the idioms: χαμένος κόπος, χαμένος από χέρι, βγαίνω χαμένος.
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Start learning Greek →Related Topics
- κερδίζω (to win/earn)B1 — One Greek verb for win, earn, gain and beat — the object tells you which. Full forms, the bare-accusative opponent that does not mirror χάνω από, the mostly third-person mediopassive κερδήθηκε, and κερδισμένος as a predicate.
- βρίσκω (to find)A2 — Two verbs in one entry: active βρίσκω (find, get, judge) with the aorist βρήκα and the one-syllable dependent βρω, and the mediopassive βρίσκομαι (be located), whose aorist is βρέθηκα with an ε. Plus the warning that βρεμένος belongs to βρέχω and means 'wet'.
- Experiencer Clitics: μου αρέσειA2 — Μου αρέσουν τα λουλούδια is 'the flowers please me' — the thing is the subject and the person is a genitive clitic. The whole αρέσει / λείπει / φαίνεται / πάει family, why μου λείπεις inverts twice, the three ways to say your head hurts, and the sister family (με νοιάζει, σε πειράζει) that takes the accusative instead.
- Aorist Mediopassive: -θηκαB1 — The single completed past of the -ομαι voice — αγαπήθηκα, ντύθηκα, φοβήθηκα, γεννήθηκα — built with the passive aorist endings -θηκα, -θηκες, -θηκε, -θήκαμε, -θήκατε, -θηκαν, plus the accent that shifts forward in the 1st and 2nd plural and the deponents (θυμήθηκα, κοιμήθηκα) that live here.