πέφτω (to fall) | Greek Grammar

Two things about πέφτω are worth learning properly, and neither is the meaning. Its two stems share almost no letters, and its plural command is a word that already belongs to another very common verb. Everything else about it is regular.

Principal parts

Slot	Form	Note
Present	πέφτω, πέφτεις, πέφτει, πέφτουμε, πέφτετε, πέφτουν(ε)	stem πεφτ-
Imperfect	έπεφτα	plural πέφταμε, πέφτατε — the augment drops when the stress moves off it
Aorist	έπεσα, έπεσες, έπεσε, πέσαμε, πέσατε, έπεσαν	stem πεσ-
After θα / να	πέσω, πέσεις, πέσει, πέσουμε, πέσετε, πέσουν	no augment, same πεσ-
Command	πέσε / πέστε	the everyday one; imperfective πέφτε is rare
Perfect / pluperfect	έχω / είχα πέσει	one -ει form for both
Gerund	πέφτοντας	as you fall, on the way down
Participle	πεσμένος	fallen, lying where it fell; of a person, low, off form

πεφτ- → πεσ- is a lexical fact, not a rule. There is no sound change that turns φτ into σ; the two stems come from different parts of the ancient verb πίπτω and simply have to be learned as a pair, like English go and went. The stem alternations page covers the alternations Greek does derive — root vowels, lost nasals — and πέφτω is not one of them.

The good news is that it is one fact, not five. Once you have πεσ-, everything on the perfective side falls out of it with no further surprises: έπεσα, να πέσω, θα πέσω, πέσε, έχω πέσει, πεσμένος. Everything else in the verb is built on πεφτ- and is as regular as γράφω.

A passive — does not exist. No πέφτομαι. When somebody makes a thing fall, Greek changes verb: ρίχνω.
A -μένος form with a passive sense — does not exist either. πεσμένος is intransitive, like its verb: the leaf fell on its own. That whole group is on participles as adjectives.
The one learned survivor is the ancient participle πεσών, alive in the plural οι πεσόντες "the fallen" (formal) — war memorials, obituaries, and nowhere else.

Πέστε — two verbs, one word

πέστε is πέφτω's plural command. It is also the colloquial plural command of λέω (informal), standing beside the neutral πείτε. Nothing in the form distinguishes them; the singulars do, since λέω gives πες and πέφτω gives πέσε.

Πέστε μου την αλήθεια, τι έγινε τελικά;

péste mu tin alíthia, ti éyine teliká;

Tell me the truth — what actually happened? (informal, beside the neutral Πείτε μου)

Παιδιά, πέστε για ύπνο, αύριο ξυπνάμε νωρίς.

pedhiá, péste ya ípno, ávrio ksipnáme norís

Kids, get to bed — we're up early tomorrow.

💡

Context settles it every time, because the two verbs take different things after them. A πέστε followed by something said — μου, την αλήθεια, τι έγινε — is λέω. A πέστε followed by a place or a direction — κάτω, για ύπνο, στο κρεβάτι — is πέφτω.

Government

πέφτω is intransitive: the source takes από, the landing place takes σε, and the person it happened to takes a genitive clitic.

Έπεσα από τη σκάλα και χτύπησα το πόδι μου.

épesa apó ti skála ke chtípisa to pódhi mu

I fell off the ladder and hurt my leg.

Πέσε να κοιμηθείς, είναι τρεις η ώρα.

pése na kimithís, íne tris i óra

Go to bed, it's three in the morning.

That genitive clitic is the payload of the page, because it is how Greek says "I dropped it." The glass is the subject and does the falling; you are merely the person it happened to, marked by μου. There is no transitive verb and no blame in the sentence at all.

Μου έπεσε το ποτήρι και έγινε χίλια κομμάτια.

mu épese to potíri ke éyine chília komátia

I dropped the glass and it smashed to pieces.

Έριξα κάτω το ποτήρι με το μανίκι μου.

ériksa káto to potíri me to maníki mu

I knocked the glass over with my sleeve.

Both of those are good Greek and they are not the same sentence. Μου έπεσε reports an accident; Έριξα says you did it, whether on purpose or through your own clumsiness — which is exactly why the first is what you say when apologising. The wider family of experiencer clitics is on μου αρέσει and friends.

Μου έπεσε το κινητό στο νερό και δεν ανοίγει πια.

mu épese to kinitó sto neró ke dhen aníyi pia

I dropped my phone in the water and it won't turn on any more.

Set phrases

Phrase	Meaning
πέφτω για ύπνο	go to bed, turn in
πέφτω έξω	get it wrong, miscalculate; of a business, go under
πέφτω μέσα	call it right, be spot on
δεν μου πέφτει λόγος	it's not for me to say, I have no say in it
πέφτω από τα σύννεφα	be completely taken aback
πέφτω με τα μούτρα σε κάτι	throw myself into something
πέφτω στα μαλακά	get off lightly, land softly
την πέφτω σε κάποια (informal)	make a pass at someone
έπεσε το ίντερνετ / το σύστημα	the internet / the system went down

Έπεσα έξω στους υπολογισμούς μου και μου βγήκε διπλάσιο.

épesa ékso stus ipoloyizmús mu ke mu vyíke dhiplásio

I got my sums wrong and it came out twice as much.

Δεν μου πέφτει λόγος, δικό σου το σπίτι.

dhen mu péfti lóghos, dhikó su to spíti

It's not for me to say — it's your house.

Έπεσε πολύ η θερμοκρασία τη νύχτα.

épese polí i thermokrasía ti níchta

The temperature dropped a lot overnight.

Key Takeaways

πέφτω · έπεφτα · έπεσα · να πέσω · πέσε / πέστε · έχω πέσει · πέφτοντας · πεσμένος.
πεφτ- and πεσ- are two stems, not one stem changing. Learn them as a pair.
πέστε is shared with λέω (informal); the singulars πες and πέσε keep them apart.
No passive, no passive-sense participle. "Make something fall" is ρίχνω.
Μου έπεσε το X = I dropped X, accidentally. Έριξα το X = I knocked it over or threw it.

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