English splits κρατάω across four verbs — hold, keep, reserve, hold back — and then adds a fifth job Greek does with the same word and no object at all: it lasts. Πόσο κρατάει η ταινία; has no object, no passive and nothing corresponding to it in English except a different verb entirely. This card lists the forms and then the frames, because with κρατάω the frame is what picks the meaning.
Principal parts
| Slot | Forms | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Present | κρατάω/κρατώ, κρατάς, κρατάει/κρατά, κρατάμε/κρατούμε, κρατάτε, κρατάνε/κρατούν(ε) | doublets are register, not correctness — Class Β1 |
| Imperfect | κρατούσα — also κράταγα (informal) | |
| Aorist | κράτησα, κράτησες, κράτησε, κρατήσαμε, κρατήσατε, κράτησαν | plain -ησ-; ×κράτισα is a spelling slip, not a form |
| Dependent | κρατήσω — θα / να κρατήσω | |
| Imperative | κράτα / κρατάτε · κράτησε / κρατήστε | imperfective · perfective |
| Perfect | έχω / είχα κρατήσει | |
| Gerund | κρατώντας | |
| Mediopassive | κρατιέμαι, κρατιέσαι, κρατιέται… · aorist κρατήθηκα | learned twin κρατούμαι(formal): κρατείται στο τμήμα |
| -μένος participle | κρατημένος, -η, -ο | booked, reserved: Είναι κρατημένο αυτό το τραπέζι. |
Two slots this verb fills that most of its class leaves empty. The learned active participle κρατών, κρατούσα, κρατούν (formal) is alive in η κρατούσα άποψη ("the prevailing view") and in οι κρατούντες ("those in power"); the learned mediopassive supplies the legal κρατείται and the noun ο κρατούμενος (a detainee) — and, in a primary-school arithmetic book, το κρατούμενο, the digit you carry. Both are laid out on the learned participles. What does not exist is an -άω mediopassive: ×κρατάμαι is nothing.
The sense with no object
Strip the object away and κρατάω stops being about hands entirely: whatever is left as subject — a film, a battery, a marriage, the good weather — simply goes on for a while. Greek has no separate verb here, which is why learners who know κρατάω as "hold" walk straight past the most common thing it says. A short step from there gives food that keeps: Δεν θα κρατήσει το γάλα με τέτοια ζέστη.
Πόσο κρατάει η ταινία; Δεν θέλω να γυρίσω πολύ αργά.
póso kratái i tenía; dhen thélo na yiríso polí arghá
How long is the film? I don't want to get back too late.
Λες να κρατήσει ο καιρός μέχρι την Κυριακή;
les na kratísi o kerós méchri tin Kiriakí;
Do you think the weather will hold until Sunday?
Government
| Frame | Example | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| accusative | Κράτα το ποτήρι μου. | hold, keep, reserve a thing |
| genitive clitic + accusative | Κράτα μου μια θέση. | hold it for somebody |
| accusative + adjective | Κράτα την πόρτα ανοιχτή. | keep something in a state |
| no complement | Ο χορός κράτησε ως το πρωί. | duration |
από
| Κρατήσου από το χερούλι. | what you hold on to |
από
| Κρατάει από τη Μάνη. | where somebody comes from |
από
| Η φιλία τους κρατάει από τον στρατό. | how far back it goes |
| genitive clitic + κακία / μούτρα | Μου κρατάει κακία. | bear a grudge against somebody |
The beneficiary is the row to learn. English marks it with for; Greek marks it with a genitive clitic sitting in front of the verb. Κράτα μια θέση για μένα is also grammatical, but it is the emphatic version, not the default. The same clitic is what turns a grudge into somebody's grudge: κακία and μούτρα are held at a person, and that person is genitive too.
Κράτα μου ένα κομμάτι τούρτα, θα αργήσω λίγο.
kráta mu éna komáti túrta, tha aryíso lígho
Save me a slice of cake, I'll be a bit late.
Κράτησα δωμάτιο για δύο νύχτες, αλλιώς δεν θα βρίσκαμε τίποτα τον Αύγουστο.
krátisa dhomátio ya dhío níchtes, aliós dhen tha vrískame típota ton Ávghusto
I booked a room for two nights — otherwise we'd have found nothing in August.
Κράτα την πόρτα ανοιχτή, έρχομαι με τα ψώνια.
kráta tin pórta anichtí, érchome me ta psónia
Hold the door open, I'm coming with the shopping.
Η γιαγιά μου κρατούσε από τη Σμύρνη.
i yayá mu kratúse apó ti Zmírni
My grandmother's family came from Smyrna.
Μου κρατάει ακόμα κακία για μια κουβέντα που είπα πέρσι.
mu kratái akóma kakía ya mia kuvénda pu ípa pérsi
She still holds it against me, over one remark I made last year.
κρατιέμαι: hold on, or hold yourself back
The mediopassive splits by frame in exactly the same way. With από it is physical — grab something and stay upright. On its own, or with να, it is self-restraint, and it is the ordinary way to say you nearly did something and didn't. The voice itself is on the Β1 mediopassive.
Δεν κρατήθηκα και του είπα επιτέλους τι πιστεύω.
dhen kratíthika ke tu ípa epitélus ti pistévo
I couldn't help myself and finally told him what I think.
Ο θείος μου πάτησε τα ογδόντα και κρατιέται μια χαρά.
o thíos mu pátise ta oghdhónda ke kratiéte mia chará
My uncle has turned eighty and he's wearing very well.
Set phrases
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Κράτα τα ρέστα. | keep the change |
| κρατάω σημειώσεις / πρακτικά | take notes / keep minutes |
| κρατάω τον λόγο μου | keep my word |
| κράτα με ενήμερο | keep me posted |
| Κρατήσου! | hold on! — to a handrail, or to your nerve |
| δεν κρατιέμαι (informal) | I can't wait; I can't contain myself |
| κρατάω τα προσχήματα | keep up appearances |
| κρατάω τσίλιες (informal) | keep lookout |
| και ο χορός καλά κρατεί (literary) | and it is still in full swing — with the learned 3sg κρατεί |
Key Takeaways
- κρατάω/κρατώ · κρατούσα · κράτησα · κρατήσω · κράτα / κράτησε · έχω κρατήσει · κρατώντας, mediopassive κρατιέμαι, participle κρατημένος.
- With no object the verb means last: Πόσο κρατάει; That reading has no passive and no object slot to fill.
- από does triple duty: what you hold on to, the family you come from, and how far back something goes.
- The beneficiary is a genitive clitic — Κράτα μου μια θέση; για μένα is the emphatic alternative.
- κρατιέμαι = hold on (with από) or hold back (bare); κρατούμαι (formal) is the legal one behind ο κρατούμενος.
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