The ending -ζω predicts nothing. Three of the commonest -ζω verbs in the language sit in this same group of cards, and all three build a different past:
| Present | Aorist | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| παίζω | έπαιξα | ζ → ξ |
| διαβάζω | διάβασα | ζ → σ |
| βάζω | έβαλα | neither — the root is βαλ- |
Nothing in the present tells you which road a -ζω verb takes; you learn the aorist with the verb. Why the class splits at all is the business of aorist consonant merges.
Principal parts
| Slot | Form |
|---|---|
| Present | παίζω, παίζεις, παίζει, παίζουμε, παίζετε, παίζουν |
| Imperfect | έπαιζα, έπαιζες, έπαιζε, παίζαμε, παίζατε, έπαιζαν |
| Aorist | έπαιξα, έπαιξες, έπαιξε, παίξαμε, παίξατε, έπαιξαν |
| After θα / να | παίξω |
| Command | παίξε / παίξτε |
| Perfect / pluperfect | έχω, είχα παίξει |
| Gerund | παίζοντας |
| Mediopassive | παίζεται, παίζονται · aorist παίχτηκε — third person in practice |
Παίζει κιθάρα από τα δώδεκά του και δεν πήρε ποτέ μάθημα.
pézi kithára apó ta dhódheká tu ke dhen píre poté máthima
He's played the guitar since he was twelve and he never took a lesson.
Τα παιδιά έπαιξαν μπάλα στην αλάνα μέχρι που σκοτείνιασε.
ta pedhiá épeksan bála stin alána méchri pu skotíniase
The kids played football on the waste ground until it got dark.
Government
One accusative covers the lot. Where English splits play *the piano from *play football, Greek gives instruments, sports and board games the same bare noun — an article would mean that particular piano, the one in this room.
| Frame | Example | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| bare accusative | παίζω πιάνο, μπάλα, χαρτιά | instrument, sport, game — all alike |
με
| Παίζει με τον αδερφό του. | who else is involved |
με
| Παίζει με το κινητό. | fiddling with it |
σε
| Παίζει στον Παναθηναϊκό. | the team or the venue |
εναντίον
| Παίζουν εναντίον της Ελλάδας. | explicitly the opposition |
| impersonal παίζει να(informal) | Παίζει να βρέξει. | it might |
με names who else is on the court; whether they are your partner or your opponent comes from the game, not from the preposition. For a fixture between two teams, παίζω με is in fact the ordinary way to say "play against" — εναντίον and κόντρα σε are there for when you want that spelled out.
Ο Ολυμπιακός παίζει με τον Παναθηναϊκό την Κυριακή.
o Olimbiakós pézi me ton Panathinaikó tin Kiriakí
Olympiacos are playing Panathinaikos on Sunday. (με, and they are opponents)
Παίζουν εναντίον της Ελλάδας στον ημιτελικό.
pézun enandíon tis Eládhas ston imitelikó
They're playing against Greece in the semi-final. (spelled out)
Παίξε κάτι στο πιάνο, έχουμε πολύ καιρό να σε ακούσουμε.
pékse káti sto piáno, échume polí keró na se akúsume
Play something on the piano — it's been ages since we heard you.
What παίζω does not have
- A working mediopassive paradigm — does not exist. The voice lives in the third person: παίζεται "it's on, it's showing", παίχτηκε "it was played". Other persons surface in exactly one frozen (informal) frame, the negated superlative δεν παίζεσαι / δεν παίζομαι "you're / I'm in a class of my own" — an idiom, not a live paradigm.
- An everyday -μένος participle — does not exist. There is no ordinary παιγμένος to set beside γραμμένος or βαλμένος; it surfaces only propped up by something in front of it — the compound καλοπαιγμένος "well-played, well-acted", or καλά παιγμένο of a performance. For "the match that was played" Greek uses a relative clause: ο αγώνας που παίχτηκε.
- An English-style article split — does not exist. English has play *the piano against *play football; Greek gives both the bare noun. An article does not generalise the skill, it points at a specific instrument.
Τι παίζεται αυτή τη βδομάδα στα σινεμά;
ti pézete aftí ti vdhomádha sta sinemá;
What's on at the cinema this week?
The παίζει layer
In the last couple of decades the third person of this verb has become one of the most productive slang items in Greek. All of the following are (informal) and all are extremely common in speech and messaging — see colloquial expressions.
Τι παίζει, ρε συ, πού χάθηκες;
ti pézi, re si, pu cháthikes;
What's up, mate — where have you been? (informal)
Παίζει να βρέξει το απόγευμα, πάρε ομπρέλα.
pézi na vréksi to apóyevma, páre ombréla
It might rain this afternoon — take an umbrella. (informal)
Δεν παίζει να τους νικήσουμε χωρίς τερματοφύλακα.
dhen pézi na tus nikísume chorís termatofílaka
There's no chance we beat them without a goalkeeper. (informal)
Set phrases
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| παίζω μπάλα / χαρτιά / τάβλι | play football / cards / backgammon |
| παίζω με τη φωτιά | play with fire |
| παίζω τον ρόλο του… | play the part of… |
| τα παίζω όλα για όλα | go all in, risk everything |
| τα παίζω (informal) | lose it, freak out — τα έπαιξα |
| τα παίζω στα δάχτυλα | know it inside out |
| μου παίζει το μάτι | my eye is twitching |
| τι παίζει; / δεν παίζει (informal) | what's up? / no chance |
Μην παίζεις με τη φωτιά, θα το μετανιώσεις.
min pézis me ti fotiá, tha to metaniósis
Don't play with fire — you'll regret it.
Τα έπαιξα εντελώς όταν είδα τον λογαριασμό.
ta épeksa endelós ótan ídha ton loghariazmó
I completely lost it when I saw the bill. (informal)
Τα παίζει στα δάχτυλα τα ρήματα, τον ρώτησα δέκα.
ta pézi sta dháchtila ta rímata, ton rótisa dhéka
He knows the verbs inside out — I tested him on ten.
Key Takeaways
- παίζω · έπαιζα · έπαιξα · να παίξω · παίξε / παίξτε · έχω παίξει · παίζοντας; third-person mediopassive παίζεται / παίχτηκε.
- ζ → ξ here, ζ → σ in διάβασα, neither in έβαλα: the -ζω ending predicts nothing and the aorist is learned with the verb.
- Instruments, sports and games all take a bare accusative — παίζω πιάνο, παίζω μπάλα, παίζω χαρτιά. An article makes it that instrument.
- με says who else is playing, not which side they are on; εναντίον
- genitive or κόντρα σε makes them the opposition.
- The παίζει slang set — τι παίζει;, παίζει να…, δεν παίζει — is everywhere in speech and belongs firmly to (informal) register.
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- διαβάζω (to read/study)A1 — Half of this verb's work is not reading at all: Διαβάζω για τις εξετάσεις is how you say you are studying, and σπουδάζω is not a substitute. Card gives the principal parts (διάβασα, no ε-, ζ → σ), the διαβάζω/σπουδάζω/μελετώ triple, the είμαι διαβασμένος idiom, and the frames.
- βάζω (to put)A2 — The -ζω verb that escapes the -ζω aorist split: not έβαξα, not έβασα, but έβαλα from a λ-final root. Full forms, the eight English verbs βάζω has swallowed (put, pour, turn on, enrol), the βάζω τα κλάματα frame, and why βάλθηκα is not a passive.
- Aorist Consonant Merges (-ψα, -ξα, -σα)B1 — The reading skill that unlocks the aorist: every aorist hides the same perfective -σα, and the ending you see (-ψα, -ξα or -σα) tells you what consonant it landed on. Read the merge backwards — -ψα points to a labial verb, -ξα to a velar, -σα to a dental or -νω verb — and you can recover the present of an aorist you've never met. Includes the honest -ζω split (παίζω → έπαιξα but νομίζω → νόμισα).