έρχομαι is the verb that disproves everything tidy about deponents. Its present wears mediopassive endings, its past wears active ones, its command is built on a root the everyday past hides, and the one participle it has is not the one the pattern predicts. Here is the whole inventory on a single card.
Everything έρχομαι has — and the four slots it leaves empty
| Slot | Form | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Present | έρχομαι, έρχεσαι, έρχεται, ερχόμαστε, έρχεστε, έρχονται | mediopassive endings throughout |
| Imperfect | ερχόμουν, ερχόσουν, ερχόταν… | ερχόμουνα, ερχόντουσαν (informal) |
| Aorist | ήρθα, ήρθες, ήρθε, ήρθαμε, ήρθατε, ήρθαν | active -α endings; ήλθα(formal) |
| Dependent (after θα, να) | έρθω | θα έρθω, να έρθω, αν έρθω |
| Imperative | έλα / ελάτε | the root ελ- — shown by (formal) ήλθα, hidden under -ρθ- by ήρθα / έρθω |
| Perfect / pluperfect | έχω / είχα έρθει | |
| Present participle | ερχόμενος, -η, -ο | "coming, next" — an everyday adjective |
| Active present ×έρχω | does not exist | |
| Aorist in -θηκα ×ερχόθηκα | does not exist | |
| -μένος participle | does not exist | |
| Gerund in -οντας | does not exist — no mediopassive verb has one | |
The two middle gaps are the ones worth stating out loud, because the deponent pattern predicts both. A verb whose present is έρχομαι ought to make a passive aorist ×ερχόθηκα, the way σκέφτομαι makes σκέφτηκα and φοβάμαι makes φοβήθηκα; it does not, and the aorist it does have is ήρθα, with the plain active endings of έγραψα. And a verb with a -θηκα aorist would normally hand you a -μένος participle on top of it; with no -θηκα to build on, there is nothing to make one from.
What έρχομαι does have is a present participle, ερχόμενος, and it is in daily use — not as a verb form but as an ordinary adjective meaning "coming, next": την ερχόμενη εβδομάδα, τα ερχόμενα χρόνια. Made freshly as a participle it belongs to the (formal) learned participle system; frozen into these time phrases it is as everyday as επόμενος.
Την ερχόμενη Δευτέρα κλείνει το μαγαζί για ανακαίνιση.
tin erchómeni Dheftéra klíni to maghazí ya anakénisi
The shop is closing next Monday for refurbishment.
Ήρθαμε με το πρώτο πλοίο και προλάβαμε τον γάμο.
írthame me to próto plío ke prolávame ton ghámo
We came on the first ferry and made it in time for the wedding.
Δεν έχει έρθει ακόμα — μάλλον κόλλησε στην κίνηση.
dhen échi érthi akóma — málon kólise stin kínisi
He hasn't got here yet — he's probably stuck in traffic.
Come, not go
έρχομαι is deictic: it means motion towards where the other person is, and Greek holds that line more strictly than English does. When someone calls you from the kitchen, the answer is Έρχομαι! — you are moving towards them. English says "I'm coming!" too, but it also says "I'll go with you to the doctor's," where Greek keeps the come-verb because the destination is where your listener will be. Both verbs below are perfectly good Greek; they simply describe two different journeys.
Έρχομαι σε δύο λεπτά, βάζω παπούτσια!
érchome se dhío leptá, vázo papútsia
Coming in two minutes — I'm putting my shoes on!
Θα έρθω μαζί σου στον γιατρό, δεν θέλω να πας μόνη.
tha értho mazí su ston yatró, dhen thélo na pas móni
I'll come with you to the doctor's, I don't want you going on your own.
Θα πάω μόνος μου, δεν χρειάζεται να αφήσεις τη δουλειά σου.
tha páo mónos mu, dhen chriázete na afísis ti dhuliá su
I'll go on my own, there's no need for you to leave work. (πάω — away from the listener)
Government
| Frame | Example | Reading |
|---|---|---|
σε
| Έρχομαι στο σπίτι σου. | destination |
από
| Έρχομαι από τη δουλειά. | where you have just been |
με
| Ήρθα με τα παιδιά / με το τρένο. | company, or means of travel |
| έρχομαι να + verb | Ήρθε να μας δει. | came in order to |
| έρχομαι σε + abstract noun | έρχομαι σε επαφή, σε συμφωνία | reach a state — a fixed frame |
μου έρχεται να
| Μου έρχεται να φωνάξω. | I feel like — see below |
The last row is the one to learn as a block. In μου έρχεται να, the person is a genitive clitic (μου, σου, του) and the verb stays stubbornly in the third person singular — nothing agrees with you at all. It is the same genitive-experiencer shape as μου αρέσει, and it covers the English "I feel like ——ing" and "I could just ——".
Έρχομαι από τη δουλειά και είμαι πτώμα, ας παραγγείλουμε κάτι.
érchome apó ti dhuliá ke íme ptóma, as parangílume káti
I'm on my way back from work and I'm wrecked — let's order something in.
Ήρθε να μας δει το απόγευμα και έφερε και γλυκά.
írthe na mas dhi to apóyevma ke éfere ke ghliká
She came round to see us in the afternoon and brought sweets as well.
Μου έρχεται να τα παρατήσω όλα και να φύγω για ένα νησί.
mu érchete na ta paratíso óla ke na fígho ya éna nisí
I feel like dropping the lot and clearing off to an island.
Set phrases
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Έλα! | come on; also "hello?" on the phone to someone you know (informal) |
| Έλα ντε! | exactly — that's what I'm wondering too (informal) |
| Έλα τώρα | oh come off it |
| πώς σου ήρθε; | what on earth made you do that? |
| μου ήρθε μια ιδέα | an idea came to me |
| δεν μου έρχεται | I can't call it to mind |
| έρχεται βροχή | rain's on the way |
Πώς σου ήρθε να βάψεις τον τοίχο μπλε;
pos su írthe na vápsis ton tícho ble;
What on earth made you paint the wall blue?
Δεν μου έρχεται τώρα το όνομά του, το έχω στην άκρη της γλώσσας μου.
dhen mu érchete tóra to ónomá tu, to écho stin ákri tis ghlósas mu
I can't think of his name right now — it's on the tip of my tongue.
Μάζεψε τα ρούχα από το μπαλκόνι, έρχεται βροχή.
mázepse ta rúcha apó to balkóni, érchete vrochí
Get the washing in off the balcony, there's rain coming.
Key Takeaways
- The whole verb in five forms: έρχομαι · ερχόμουν · ήρθα · έρθω · έλα, plus the perfect έχω έρθει.
- The present is mediopassive but the aorist is active-shaped — ήρθα, ήρθαμε, with the endings of έγραψα. ήλθα is its (formal) twin.
- Four slots are empty and stay empty: the active present ×έρχω, the -θηκα aorist ×ερχόθηκα, the -μένος participle, and the -οντας gerund.
- ερχόμενος is alive and everyday as an adjective — την ερχόμενη εβδομάδα, τα ερχόμενα χρόνια.
- Frames: σε for the destination, από for where you have come from, με for company or transport, να for purpose — and μου έρχεται να, third person singular with a genitive clitic.
- Greek's come-verb tracks the listener's position, so an invitation is answered Θα έρθω, never Θα πάω.
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Start learning Greek →Related Topics
- Deponent Verbs (-ομαι only)B1 — The verbs that exist only in the mediopassive -ομαι form but mean something perfectly active — έρχομαι (come), κάθομαι (sit), γίνομαι (become), θυμάμαι (remember), φοβάμαι (fear), σκέφτομαι (think), εργάζομαι (work) — why there is no ×έρχω, how they conjugate like passives across the tenses, and the unpredictable aorist that is the one real difficulty.
- Irregular and Suppletive AoristsB1 — The dozen aorists you cannot derive and must simply know — είδα, είπα, ήρθα, ήπια, πήγα, βρήκα, μπήκα, βγήκα, πήρα, έφαγα, έδωσα, έμεινα — grouped by their shared shape, and precisely because they belong to Greek's most frequent verbs, the highest-value forms in the whole past tense.
- Irregular ImperativesB1 — The dozen suppletive commands you cannot derive and simply have to know — έλα, πες, δες, φάε, πιες, βρες, μπες, βγες, ανέβα, κατέβα, κάτσε — with both the singular and the plural for each.
- πάω / πηγαίνω (to go)A1 — One verb with two presents: πάω is what people say, πηγαίνω is what carries the imperfect πήγαινα and the command πήγαινε. This card shows which form owns which slot, the aorist πήγα (with γ), the empty imperative slot on the πα- side, and the prepositions the verb takes.
- γίνομαι (to become/happen)A2 — One Greek verb covers become, happen and be-possible: Έγινε γιατρός, Τι έγινε;, Γίνεται; This card gives the paradigm — including the active-shaped aorist έγινα — the nominative predicate, the impersonal γίνεται, and the forms γίνομαι does not have.