That γίνομαι is a deponent — mediopassive in shape, active in meaning, with no ×γίνω present — is settled elsewhere. What that page cannot do in a line is warn you how much work this verb does: Greek hands three separate English verbs to one stem, and the third, the impersonal one, is why a beginner hears γίνεται twenty times a day and never finds it in a table.
Three verbs in one
| Job | Shape | Example |
|---|---|---|
| become — change of state | personal, + nominative predicate | Έγινε δασκάλα. / Έγινε κόκκινη. |
| happen — of events | 3rd person only | Τι έγινε; / Έγινε ένα ατύχημα. |
| be possible, be done | impersonal γίνεται | Γίνεται; / Δεν γίνεται. |
Γίνεται; on its own is a complete question — "is that doable?" — and Δεν γίνεται a complete refusal. It is also how Greek says a thing was done: where English needs a passive, Greek says Έγινε. That one word is the standard reply to a request, and the lexical passive of κάνω.
Γίνεται να αλλάξουμε το ραντεβού για την Τρίτη;
yínete na aláksume to randevú ya tin Tríti;
Would it be possible to move the appointment to Tuesday?
Δεν γίνεται να είμαστε παντού ταυτόχρονα.
dhen yínete na ímaste pandú taftóchrona
We can't be everywhere at once.
Τι έγινε χθες στη συνέλευση; Μου είπαν ότι έγινε χαμός.
ti éyine chthes sti sinélefsi; mu ípan óti éyine chamós
What happened at the meeting yesterday? I'm told all hell broke loose.
The forms
| Slot | Form |
|---|---|
| Present | γίνομαι, γίνεσαι, γίνεται, γινόμαστε, γίνεστε, γίνονται |
| Imperfect | γινόμουν(α), γινόσουν, γινόταν, γινόμασταν, γινόσασταν, γίνονταν |
| Aorist | έγινα, έγινες, έγινε, γίναμε, γίνατε, έγιναν |
| After θα / να | γίνω, γίνεις, γίνει, γίνουμε, γίνετε, γίνουν |
| Command | γίνε / γίνετε |
| Perfect / pluperfect | έχω, είχα γίνει |
The aorist is the surprise. A verb that conjugates like a passive throughout the present ought to take a -θηκα aorist, the way σκέφτομαι gives σκέφτηκα. γίνομαι does not: έγινα is active-shaped, with the ordinary augment that drops in the plural (γίναμε, γίνατε). A rarer γίνηκα / γινήκαμε circulates in speech and in older demotic writing, but έγινα is the form to produce.
Ο θείος μου έγινε δάσκαλος στα σαράντα του.
o thíos mu éyine dháskalos sta saránda tu
My uncle became a teacher at forty.
Να γίνεις καλά και τα λέμε από κοντά.
na yínis kalá ke ta léme apó kondá
Get well soon and we'll catch up in person.
What γίνομαι does not have
- An active present — does not exist. No ×γίνω heading a clause. The γίνω in να γίνω, θα γίνω is the perfective form of the same deponent, not an active voice.
- A -θηκα aorist — does not exist. ×γινήθηκα is not a Greek word.
- A -μένος participle meaning "become" — does not exist. The word that looks like one, γινωμένος, means ripe: ένα γινωμένο ροδάκινο. Never press it into service for "having become".
- A gerund in -οντας — does not exist, as for every mediopassive verb. Use καθώς or ενώ with a finite clause.
One learned survival is worth recognising: the ancient infinitive lives on as an indeclinable neuter noun, το γίγνεσθαι — το πολιτικό γίγνεσθαι, "the political scene" (academic). A fossil, not part of the paradigm.
Government
| Frame | Example | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| predicate noun — nominative | Έγινε δικηγόρος. | became a lawyer; no article, no preposition |
| predicate adjective — nominative | Το νερό έγινε πάγος. | agrees with the subject |
| impersonal + να-clause | Γίνεται να έρθεις; | is it possible for you to come? |
| impersonal, standing alone | Δεν γίνεται. | it can't be done |
| genitive clitic | Τι σου έγινε; | what's become of you? what's up with you? |
| σε + accusative, "happen" sense | Τι έγινε στη δουλειά; | plain location of an event |
Both sides of γίνομαι stay in the nominative, as after είμαι — the rule is on the predicate nominative. The difference between the two verbs is not case but time: είμαι reports a state, γίνομαι reports the crossing into it.
Ο θείος μου είναι δάσκαλος εδώ και τριάντα χρόνια.
o thíos mu íne dháskalos edhó ke triánda chrónia
My uncle has been a teacher for thirty years.
Έγινε δεκτή στη Νομική και το γιορτάσαμε όλοι μαζί.
éyine dhektí sti Nomikí ke to yortásame óli mazí
She got into law school and we all celebrated together.
Τι σου έγινε; Έχεις μια περίεργη φωνή.
ti su éyine; échis mia períeryi foní
What's up with you? Your voice sounds odd.
Set phrases
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Τι έγινε; | what happened? |
| Τι γίνεται; (informal) | how's things? — a greeting, not a question about events |
| Έγινε! (informal) | done, consider it sorted |
| δεν γίνεται αλλιώς | there's no other way |
| γίνεται χαμός (informal) | all hell breaks loose |
| ό,τι έγινε έγινε | what's done is done |
| γίνομαι καπνός (informal) | vanish into thin air |
| γίνομαι έξω φρενών | be beside myself with rage |
| γίνομαι ρεζίλι (informal) | make a fool of myself |
| να γίνεις καλά | get well soon |
Ό,τι έγινε έγινε, δεν έχει νόημα να το συζητάμε άλλο.
óti éyine éyine, dhen échi nóima na to sizitáme álo
What's done is done — there's no point going over it again.
Common Mistakes
Making the impersonal γίνεται agree with you. "Can I pay by card?" has I as its subject in English, so the ending gets moved onto γίνομαι. It cannot go there: in the "be possible" sense the verb has no personal subject and stays third person whoever is asking.
❌ Γίνομαι να πληρώσω με κάρτα;
Incorrect — the possibility sense is impersonal and stays 3rd person: Γίνεται να πληρώσω;
✅ Γίνεται να πληρώσω με κάρτα;
yínete na pliróso me kárta;
Can I pay by card?
Key Takeaways
- The whole verb: γίνομαι · γινόμουν · έγινα · να γίνω · γίνε · έχω γίνει.
- The aorist is έγινα, active-shaped despite the mediopassive present — not ×γινήθηκα.
- Nominative on both sides: Έγινε δασκάλα, Έγινε κόκκινη. No article on the profession, no accusative anywhere.
- γίνεται is also impersonal — "it's possible / it's done". Δεν γίνεται is a full sentence, and Έγινε is the standard "consider it done".
- γινωμένος means ripe, not "become"; there is no participle for the ordinary sense, and no -οντας gerund.
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Start learning Greek →Related Topics
- είμαι (to be)A1 — The complete inventory of είμαι on one card — present, past, future, να-form and gerund — plus the unusually long list of forms this verb simply does not have: no aorist, no perfective stem, no perfect, no mediopassive, no participle and no plain imperative.
- κάνω (to do/make)A1 — The verb whose aspect contrast collapsed — present, imperfect, aorist and dependent are all κάνω/έκανα — plus its life as Greek's biggest light verb, the frames it appears in (weather, price, pretence, duration) and the passive it borrows from γίνομαι.
- 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.
- Nominative: Predicate and NamingA2 — Why both sides of είμαι share the nominative — Ο Γιάννης είναι δάσκαλος, Εγώ είμαι — how γίνομαι, φαίνομαι and μένω behave the same way, why Greek says Είναι γιατρός with no article, and the neat reason Με λένε Γιάννη is accusative instead.