λείπω joins three meanings that English assigns to different expressions: somebody can be away, an item can be missing, and a person or thing can be missed. In every use, the subject is what is absent—not the person who feels the absence.
Η Άννα λείπει από το γραφείο σήμερα.
i Ána lípi apó to ghrafío símera
Anna is away from the office today.
Μου λείπουν τα παιδιά, αλλά θα γυρίσουν την Κυριακή.
mu lípun ta pedhiá, alá tha yirísun tin Kiriakí
I miss the children, but they'll be back on Sunday.
The shared semantic core in current Greek is an expected presence that is not there. With a colleague, the result is absence; with a contract page, a missing part; with somebody emotionally important, the experience of missing them. That unity explains why agreement always follows the absent entity.
Principal parts
| Slot | Form | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Present | λείπω, λείπεις, λείπει, λείπουμε, λείπετε, λείπουν | imperfective stem λειπ- |
| Imperfect | έλειπα | absence viewed internally or as open |
| Aorist | έλειψα | bounded absence; π + σ → ψ |
| Dependent | λείψω | να λείψω, θα λείψω |
| Perfect | έχω λείψει | |
| Imperative | λείψε | restricted to the hostile idiom below |
| Mediopassive / -μένος form | Does not exist in current Standard Greek: no ×λείπομαι and no regular result participle | |
The aspect contrast is ordinary even though the meanings are stative. έλειπα looks inside an interval of absence; έλειψα packages an absence as a bounded whole. Duration does not decide the aspect by itself.
Έλειψα μόνο τρεις μέρες, αλλά έγιναν πολλά.
élipsa móno tris méres, alá éyinan polá
I was away for only three days, but a lot happened.
Όσο έλειπα, ο Νίκος απαντούσε στα μηνύματα.
óso élipa, o Níkos apandúse sta minímata
While I was away, Nikos was answering the messages.
For the full decision, use aspect in the past; for lookup across verbs, use the principal-parts index.
Government
With miss, the experiencer is a genitive clitic and the missed entity is a nominative subject. The verb agrees with that subject: Μου λείπει η φίλη μου, but Μου λείπουν οι φίλοι μου. This is the same architecture as αρέσω, explained fully under genitive experiencers.
Λείπει μια σελίδα από το συμβόλαιο που μου έστειλες.
lípi mia selídha apó to simvóleo pu mu éstiles
A page is missing from the contract you sent me.
Μου λείπουν είκοσι ευρώ για το εισιτήριο.
mu lípun íkosi evró ya to isitírio
I'm twenty euros short for the ticket.
For absence from a place, use από + accusative: λείπω από το γραφείο. A duration can be a bare accusative: έλειψα μια βδομάδα. Do not turn English “miss” into ×λείπω κάποιον; Greek reverses the roles.
Set phrases
- Μου λείπεις πολύ. — I miss you a lot.
- Λίγο έλειψε να… — nearly / came close to…
- Δεν μας έλειπε κι αυτό. — That's all we needed.
- Να μου λείπει! — No thanks; spare me that.
- Τι σου λείπει; — What are you missing / what do you need?
- Του λείπει μια βίδα.(informal) — He has a screw loose.
Λίγο έλειψε να χάσω την πτήση για Θεσσαλονίκη.
lígho élipse na cháso tin ptísi ya Thesaloníki
I nearly missed the flight to Thessaloniki.
Δεν μας έλειπε κι αυτή η βλάβη τώρα.
dhen mas élipe ki aftí i vlávi tóra
This breakdown is all we needed right now.
Λείψε απ' το κεφάλι μου!(informal, hostile) means “get out of my hair.” It licenses λείψε, but that does not create a general command meaning “be absent.” Να μου λείπει is instead a να-clause.
Common Mistakes
Avoid ×λείπω εσένα for “I miss you”: use μου λείπεις. Do not manufacture ×λείπομαι from the productive Class Α pattern. The special λείψε belongs to its idiom, not an ordinary attendance instruction.
Key Takeaways
- λείπω · έλειπα · έλειψα · λείψω · έχω λείψει; no current mediopassive.
- The absent or missed entity is the subject; the experiencer is a genitive clitic.
- λείψε survives in one hostile idiom, while να μου λείπει is a να-clause.
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Start learning Greek →Related Topics
- αρέσω (μου αρέσει — to like)A2 — The complete active paradigm behind μου αρέσει, including its overlapping past forms, subject agreement, genitive experiencer, and the separate formal verb αρέσκομαι.
- μένω (to stay/live)A2 — μένω is how Greeks say where they live, how they say they stayed put, and — in a whole family of idioms — how they say something was left in a state: έμεινα από βενζίνη, έμεινε το αυτοκίνητο, έμεινα άφωνος. Paradigm, the ε→ει shift, frames and set phrases.
- ξεχνάω/ξεχνώ (to forget)A2 — One Greek verb where English needs three: forget a fact, forget to do something, and leave an object behind. Plus the imperative pair Ξέχνα το / Ξέχασέ το, the genitive clitic that names whose loss it is, and ξεχνιέμαι — both 'is never forgotten' and 'I lost track of time'.
- Principal Parts: Complete IndexA2 — A consolidated index of the principal parts of 151 frequent Modern Greek verbs, including defective and register-limited paradigms.