A lookup card for the verb you will reach for more often than any other content verb in Greek. κάνω earns its page for two reasons: it is the flagship verb with no formal aspect contrast, and it is the workhorse of dozens of everyday expressions where English has a dedicated verb and Greek just says noun + κάνω.
Every form κάνω has
| Slot | Forms | Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| Present | κάνω, κάνεις, κάνει, κάνουμε, κάνετε, κάνουν(ε) | do, make, be (of weather) |
| Imperfect | έκανα, έκανες, έκανε, κάναμε, κάνατε, έκαναν(ε) | was doing, used to do |
| Aorist | έκανα — the very same word | did, made |
| Dependent (after θα, να, ας) | κάνω — identical to the present | θα κάνω, να κάνω |
| Imperative | κάνε / κάντε (also κάνετε) | do it, make it |
| Perfect | έχω / είχα κάνει | have done, had done |
| Gerund | κάνοντας | doing, by doing |
| Passive participle | καμωμένος — made, built | from the older stem κάμ- |
There is no ×έκανσα and no ×κάνσω. Learners build them because the ordinary Greek perfective adds a -σ- (γράφω → έγραψα, ακούω → άκουσα), but κάνω never took that route. The old stem κάμ- did survive elsewhere: it gives the participle καμωμένος — mostly met inside καλοκαμωμένος "well-built," while the everyday "made" is φτιαγμένος — and, in the south and on Crete, the living regional forms έκαμα and να κάμω (regional: Crete, Cyprus and the islands).
κάνω also has no passive of its own worth using: κάνομαι is marginal, and the meaning "be done, be made, get done" is supplied lexically by a different verb, γίνομαι.
Η δουλειά έγινε σωστά και στην ώρα της.
i dhuliá éyine sostá ke stin óra tis
The job was done properly and on time.
No formal aspect contrast — context disambiguates
Most productive verbs with an aspect pair make you choose a stem after θα and να and give you formally distinct imperfect and aorist paradigms. Other one-stem and defective verbs can also lack part or all of that visible contrast; κάνω is the flagship case in which κάνω is both present and dependent and έκανα is both imperfect and aorist. Nothing in the shape of this verb tells you whether a situation is viewed internally or as an open habit, or packaged as a bounded occurrence or finite series: adverbials and the broader context supply the construal, exactly as the aspect choice guide explains.
Παλιά έκανα γιόγκα τρεις φορές την εβδομάδα.
paliá ékana yóga tris forés tin evdhomádha
I used to do yoga three times a week.
Χθες έκανα γιόγκα για πρώτη φορά και πονάω παντού.
chthes ékana yóga ya próti forá ke ponáo pandú
Yesterday I did yoga for the first time and I ache all over.
Government
A direct object in the accusative (Κάνω τα μαθήματά μου), and the person affected as a weak genitive pronoun (Τι μου έκανες;) or σε + accusative for a full noun (Τι έκανες στο παιδί;). Beyond that, four frames carry most of its work:
Weather — impersonal third singular with a bare noun. This is the Greek default for ambient conditions:
Κάνει τέτοια ζέστη που δεν βγαίνω καθόλου το μεσημέρι.
káni tétia zésti pu dhen vyéno kathólu to mesiméri
It's so hot that I don't go out at all at midday.
Price — κάνει is the everyday "costs," more common in shops than κοστίζει:
Πόσο κάνουν αυτά τα δύο μαζί;
póso kánun aftá ta dhío mazí;
How much are these two together?
Pretence — κάνω τον + accusative, "play the, act the":
Μην κάνεις τον έξυπνο μαζί μου, σε ξέρω χρόνια.
min kánis ton éksipno mazí mu, se kséro chrónia
Don't play clever with me, I've known you for years.
Duration — κάνω + a time expression, "it took":
Κάναμε τρεις ώρες από την Αθήνα μέχρι τη Λαμία.
káname tris óres apó tin Athína méchri ti Lamía
It took us three hours from Athens to Lamia.
Set phrases
Learning κάνω is learning fifty expressions at once, because Greek routinely says noun + κάνω where English has one dedicated verb: κάνω μπάνιο (bathe/swim), κάνω μια βόλτα (go for a walk), κάνω παρέα (hang out with), κάνω λάθος (be wrong), κάνω πλάκα (be joking), κάνω κράτηση (book), κάνω πίσω (back down). The full family is on light verbs.
Κάνω μπάνιο στη θάλασσα μέχρι τον Οκτώβρη.
káno bánio sti thálasa méchri ton Októvri
I swim in the sea right up to October.
Πάμε να κάνουμε μια βόλτα στην παραλία;
páme na kánume mia vólta stin paralía;
Shall we go for a walk on the beach?
Κάνουμε παρέα από το γυμνάσιο.
kánume paréa apó to yimnásio
We've been friends since secondary school.
Έκανα λάθος, συγγνώμη — νόμιζα ότι ήταν δικό σου.
ékana láthos, sighnómi — nómiza óti ítan dhikó su
I made a mistake, sorry — I thought it was yours.
Τα έκανα θάλασσα στις εξετάσεις και πρέπει να ξαναδώσω.
ta ékana thálasa stis eksetásis ke prépi na ksanadhóso
I made a total mess of the exams and I have to resit.
δεν κάνει is the impersonal "it isn't done, it won't do" — a mild prohibition:
Δεν κάνει να μπαίνεις με τα παπούτσια στο σπίτι.
dhen káni na bénis me ta papútsia sto spíti
You shouldn't come into the house with your shoes on.
Common Mistakes
1. Inventing a perfective with -σ-. The rule that builds έγραψα and άκουσα does not apply here: there is no ×έκανσα for the past and no ×κάνσω after θα or να.
❌ Χθες έκανσα μια βόλτα στο κέντρο.
Incorrect — κάνω has no sigmatic aorist; the past is έκανα.
✅ Χθες έκανα μια βόλτα στο κέντρο.
chthes ékana mia vólta sto kéndro
Yesterday I went for a walk in the centre.
2. Reaching for είμαι when you mean the weather. Both verbs occur with κρύο, but they say different things: κάνει κρύο is the ambient weather, είναι κρύο is a property of a particular thing. English "it's cold" collapses the two, so make the choice deliberately.
Κάνει κρύο, πάρε ένα μπουφάν.
káni krío, páre éna bufán
It's cold out — take a jacket.
Πρόσεχε, το πιάτο είναι κρύο — να το ζεστάνω;
próseche, to piáto íne krío — na to zestáno;
Careful, the dish is cold — shall I warm it up?
Key Takeaways
- In the core aspect slots, present κάνω = dependent κάνω and imperfect έκανα = aorist έκανα: there is no aspect stem to choose or derive.
- Adverbials and broader context, not the verb's shape, distinguish an internal/open reading from a bounded occurrence or finite series.
- No ×έκανσα, no ×κάνσω, and no ordinary productive passive: κάνομαι is marginal, while γίνομαι supplies everyday "be done."
- καμωμένος and the regional έκαμα / να κάμω are the surviving traces of the older stem κάμ-.
- Treat κάνω as a light verb: when you want a verb Greek may not have, check first whether it is noun + κάνω.
Related Topics
- Expressions With κάνωB1 — Master five uses beyond the productive κάνω light-verb inventory: weather, pretence, social norms, greetings, and control.
- Light Verbs: κάνω, δίνω, παίρνω, βάζωB2 — Understand how broad Greek verbs combine with event-denoting nouns, where the event meaning lives, and why each noun still selects a conventional partner.
- Talking About the WeatherA2 — Ask about Greek weather and combine subjectless weather verbs, κάνει-phrases, έχει-phrases, seasonal time expressions, and simple forecasts.
- Choosing the Right AspectB1 — The one page to bookmark: for verbs that supply an aspect pair, ask whether the speaker packages an occurrence or finite series as a bounded whole (→ perfective), or views a process, open habit or background from inside (→ imperfective), then work through ten real decisions across the past, future, subjunctive and imperative.
- 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.
- έχω (to have)A1 — The complete inventory of έχω on one card — present, the ει- past είχα, future, imperative and gerund — the slots it leaves empty (no aorist, no perfective stem, no perfect of itself, no passive), and the genuinely ambiguous έχω να construction.
- Principal Parts: Complete IndexA2 — A consolidated index of the principal parts of 151 frequent Modern Greek verbs, including defective and register-limited paradigms.