διψάω is one of the bodily states Greek prefers to put in a verb where English uses be plus an adjective — the mismatch have and be idioms catalogues across the language. The family logic — the state reading, the aorist that marks its onset, the -σμένος adjective beside it — belongs to πεινάω. This card is for the slot πεινάω does not fill: a figurative use that is neither poetic nor rare.
Principal parts
| Slot | Forms | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Present | διψάω/διψώ, διψάς, διψάει/διψά, διψάμε/διψούμε, διψάτε, διψάνε/διψούν(ε) | -άω (informal) beside -ώ (formal) |
| Imperfect | διψούσα — also δίψαγα (informal) | |
| Aorist | δίψασα | the -ασ- half of Class Β, with πείνασα and γέλασα |
| Dependent (θα, να) | διψάσω | |
| Perfect | έχω διψάσει | |
| Gerund | διψώντας | |
| Adjective | διψασμένος, -η, -ο | of a person, and of parched ground |
| Family | η δίψα · ξεδιψάω · διψαλέος (literary, usually ironic) |
The aorist is where beginners slip: the default Class Β aorist is -ησα, so ×δίψησα is the form learners build, and it is not Greek. διψάω sits in the smaller -ασα group, which the Class Β aorist sets out. Which half of each present-tense doublet you reach for is register, not correctness — that argument is on Class Β1 in the present.
Slots this verb leaves empty
- No mediopassive. There is no διψιέμαι and nothing for one to mean; thirst is not something done to you.
- A command — formed, but never heard. δίψα / διψάστε are perfectly regular and pragmatically empty: nobody can be ordered into a state. The live commands in this family belong to πίνω and ξεδιψάω.
- No living active participle. The learned διψών, διψώσα survives only inside scriptural quotation (archaic) — πεινάω prints the line the pair lives in. Notice what the craving takes there: a bare accusative. Modern Greek has replaced it with για, and that is the frame below.
Government
| Frame | Example | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| no complement | Διψάω πολύ. | the literal state |
για
| Διψάει για εκδίκηση. | craves, hungers for |
| accusative person, cause as subject (informal) | Με δίψασαν οι ελιές. | made me thirsty |
| 3rd person, of a place | Φέτος θα διψάσει το νησί. | will run short of water |
Διψάς; Έχω παγωμένο νερό στο ψυγείο.
dhipsás; écho paghoméno neró sto psiyío
Are you thirsty? I've got cold water in the fridge.
Δίψασα πολύ στην ανηφόρα και δεν είχα πάρει νερό μαζί μου.
dhípsasa polí stin anifóra ke dhen ícha pári neró mazí mu
I got really thirsty on the climb and I hadn't brought any water.
Οι ελιές με δίψασαν, φέρε μου λίγο νερό.
i eliés me dhípsasan, fére mu lígho neró
The olives have made me thirsty — bring me some water. (informal)
The για frame is the one worth drilling, because it is ordinary prose and not a flourish: a country διψάει για αλλαγή, a team διψάει για τον τίτλο, a reader διψάει για βιβλία. Drop the preposition and the sentence collapses — the thing craved has no case to stand in.
Η ομάδα διψάει για τον τίτλο μετά από δώδεκα χρόνια.
i omádha dhipsái ya ton títlo metá apó dhódheka chrónia
The team is desperate for the title after twelve years.
Βγήκε από τη φυλακή διψασμένος για μια κανονική ζωή.
vyíke apó ti filakí dhipsazménos ya mia kanonikí zoí
He came out of prison hungry for an ordinary life.
The same για rides on the noun, and there it is even commoner: η δίψα του για εξουσία needs no verb at all. The third frame in the table is the one nobody teaches — a village, a city or a whole island διψάει when the supply runs short in a dry summer. English has no verb for that and falls back on a noun phrase, water shortage, which is why the Greek sentence looks odder than it is.
Αν δεν βρέξει, θα διψάσει πάλι το νησί τον Αύγουστο.
an dhen vréksi, tha dhipsási páli to nisí ton Ávghusto
If it doesn't rain, the island will be short of water again in August.
Answering Διψάς;
Διψάω, θα σταματήσουμε πουθενά να πάρουμε νερό;
dhipsáo, tha stamatísume puthená na párume neró;
I'm thirsty — are we stopping anywhere to get water?
Γύρισε διψασμένος και κατέβασε ένα μπουκάλι μονορούφι.
yírise dhipsazménos ke katévase éna bukáli monorúfi
He came back parched and downed a whole bottle in one go.
ξεδιψάω
The derived verb takes the state away, and it runs from either end: a person ξεδιψάει (stops being thirsty) and a drink ξεδιψάει (takes the thirst away). Same form, opposite participants. Its aorist follows διψάω exactly: ξεδίψασα.
Ξεδίψασα επιτέλους, είχα να πιω νερό από το μεσημέρι.
ksedhípsasa epitélus, ícha na pio neró apó to mesiméri
I've finally had my fill — I hadn't drunk anything since midday.
Το πεπόνι ξεδιψάει περισσότερο κι από το νερό.
to pepóni ksedhipsái perisótero ki apó to neró
Melon quenches your thirst better than water does.
Set phrases
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Διψάς; | Are you thirsty? — what a Greek host asks second |
| πεθαίνω από τη δίψα (informal) | I'm dying of thirst |
| σβήνω τη δίψα μου | slake my thirst |
| διψασμένη γη | parched ground |
| δίψα για ζωή / εκδίκηση / εξουσία | a thirst for life / revenge / power |
| Όταν διψάει η αυλή σου, έξω νερό μη χύνεις. | look to your own before you help others (proverb) |
Πεθαίνω από τη δίψα — υπάρχει καμιά βρύση εδώ γύρω;
pethéno apó ti dhípsa — ipárchi kamiá vrísi edhó yíro;
I'm dying of thirst — is there a tap anywhere round here?
Key Takeaways
- διψάω/διψώ · διψούσα · δίψασα · να διψάσω · έχω διψάσει · διψώντας, adjective διψασμένος.
- The aorist is -ασα, not the default -ησα: ×δίψησα is the mistake the class invites.
- Literal use takes no complement; the figurative one takes για
- accusative and is completely everyday.
- Με δίψασαν οι ελιές (informal) turns the frame round: the salty thing is the subject, the sufferer an accusative clitic.
- No mediopassive, no usable command, no modern active participle — but ξεδιψάω is fully alive and works from both ends.
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- πεινάω/πεινώ (to be hungry)A2 — Greek says hunger with a verb, not with 'be' plus an adjective — and its aorist πείνασα means 'I've got hungry', so a Greek past tense comes out as an English present. Full forms, the empty slots, the states that work the same way, and the third sense: to go hungry.
- πίνω (to drink)A2 — Four principal parts that open four different ways — πίν-, έπιν-, ήπι-, πι- — and a perfective stem two letters long, which puts πίνω's dependent among the shortest forms in the language. Full paradigms, the augment that stays in ήπιαμε but drops in πίναμε, the drinker-not-the-drink participle πιωμένος, and the toast frames.
- Aorist: Class ΒA2 — The aorist of second-conjugation (Class Β) verbs — the contract verbs in -άω/-ώ. They are the most regular aorist in Greek: slot a linking vowel before the -σ- and add the past endings — αγάπησα, μίλησα, ρώτησα, περπάτησα. Covers the three linking-vowel families (-ησ-, -ασ-, -εσ-), the stress that rides the antepenult, and the -εύω lookalikes that are really Class Α.