πίνω (to drink) | Greek Grammar

Four principal parts, four different openings: πίν-, έπιν-, ήπι-, πι-. The perfective stem is two letters, which puts the dependent πιω and the command πιες among the shortest forms in the language, in company with πω, δω, βρω and μπω — and πω and δω are built on a single letter each.

The four stems

Person	Present	Imperfect	Aorist	After θα / να
εγώ	πίνω	έπινα	ήπια	πιω
εσύ	πίνεις	έπινες	ήπιες	πιεις
αυτός / αυτή	πίνει	έπινε	ήπιε	πιει
εμείς	πίνουμε	πίναμε	ήπιαμε	πιούμε
εσείς	πίνετε	πίνατε	ήπιατε	πιείτε
αυτοί	πίνουν	έπιναν	ήπιαν	πιουν

The two plural columns behave differently, and that is the one thing on this card worth memorising as a shape. The imperfect loses its augment the moment the word grows — έπινα but πίναμε, πίνατε — exactly like every other verb. The aorist keeps it: ήπιαμε, ήπιατε, because ι + α here is one syllable (ή-πια-με), so the stress is already on the third syllable from the end and has no reason to move. The stem itself is taught with the nasal-stem family: strip the -ν- of the present and πι- is what the perfective builds on. What πίνω does not share with its family-mates is their aorist shape: μπαίνω and βγαίνω take -ηκα (μπήκα, βγήκα), while πίνω takes ήπια.

Slot	Form	Note
Command, one drink	πιες / πιείτε	on the irregular imperative list
Perfect / pluperfect	έχω / είχα πιει	one -ει form for both
Gerund	πίνοντας	while drinking
Participle	πιωμένος	tipsy — describes the drinker
Mediopassive	πίνεται / πίνονται	third person only in practice: it's drinkable

What πίνω does not have

Stated in those words, because a conjugator will hand you all four of these without blinking:

A regular aorist — does not exist. Neither πίνησα nor έπια: the past is ήπια, one of the four verbs with an η- augment rather than ε-, and it is a true aorist standing against the imperfect έπινα. (ήθελα and ήξερα wear the same η- but are imperfects, of verbs with no everyday aorist to stand against — the distinction is drawn on the η- augment.)
A tonos on the short forms — does not exist. πιω, πιεις, πιει, πιουν are each one syllable, so they take no accent; only πιούμε and πιείτε are long enough to need one.
A -μένος participle about the drink — does not exist. πιωμένος means having drunk, never drunk up. For "the coffee I drank" Greek uses a relative clause: ο καφές που ήπια.
A personal mediopassive — not in use. πιώθηκα is recorded in dictionaries as a folk-register form, but in practice the mediopassive is third person only: what is live is πίνεται, "it can be drunk."

Αυτό το κρασί πίνεται και σκέτο, χωρίς φαγητό.

aftó to krasí pínete ke skéto, chorís fayitó

This wine goes down fine on its own, without food.

Ήταν λίγο πιωμένος και μιλούσε πολύ δυνατά.

ítan lígho pioménos ke milúse polí dhinatá

He'd had a few and was talking very loudly.

Government

Frame	Example	Reading
accusative object	Ήπια δύο καφέδες.	the ordinary case
no object at all	Δεν πίνω.	I don't drink — teetotal, not "not right now"
στην υγειά + possessive	Στην υγειά σου!	the standard toast
πίνω σε + accusative	Ας πιούμε στη νέα σου δουλειά.	drink to something
genitive clitic	Μου ήπιες τον χυμό!	drank the one that was mine (informal)

Ήπια τρεις καφέδες μέχρι το μεσημέρι και τώρα δεν με πιάνει ύπνος.

ípia tris kafédhes méchri to mesiméri ke tóra dhen me piáni ípnos

I've had three coffees by lunchtime and now I can't get to sleep.

Εγώ δεν πίνω καθόλου, θα πάρω μια λεμονάδα.

eghó dhen píno kathólu, tha páro mia lemonádha

I don't drink at all — I'll have a lemonade.

Δεν έχω πιει τίποτα από το πρωί, μόνο νερό.

dhen écho pii típota apó to proí, móno neró

I haven't had anything since this morning, just water.

💡

Bare Δεν πίνω is a statement about your life, not about the evening. If you only mean "not tonight," say Δεν θα πιω απόψε or Οδηγώ — the second is the one people actually use, and nobody argues with it.

Set phrases

Phrase	Meaning
Γεια μας! / Στην υγειά μας!	Cheers! — glasses up
πίνω ένα ποτό	have a drink
πίνω μονορούφι	down it in one
το ρίχνω στο ποτό (informal)	take to the bottle
οδηγώ πιωμένος	drive after drinking
πίνω τσιγάρο (informal, older speakers)	smoke a cigarette — καπνίζω is the neutral verb
πίνω το αίμα κάποιου (informal)	bleed someone dry

Άντε, στην υγειά σου, να είσαι καλά!

ánde, stin iyá su, na íse kalá

Here's to you — all the best!

Ήπιε το νερό μονορούφι και ζήτησε κι άλλο.

ípie to neró monorúfi ke zítise ki álo

He downed the water in one and asked for more.

Μετά το διαζύγιο το έριξε στο ποτό για κάμποσο καιρό.

metá to dhiazíyio to érikse sto potó ya kámboso keró

After the divorce he took to the bottle for quite a while. (informal)

Common Mistakes

Accenting the one-syllable dependent. πίνεις has a tonos, so learners carry it over to πιεις — but πιεις is pronounced as a single syllable and monosyllables in Greek are written bare.

❌ Πρέπει να πιείς όλο το γάλα σου.

Incorrect — the 2sg dependent is πιεις, one syllable, with no accent.

✅ Πρέπει να πιεις όλο το γάλα σου.

prépi na piis ólo to ghála su

You need to drink all your milk.

The same rule runs through the whole short-dependent set — πω, πεις, δω, δεις, βρω, βρεις, μπω, μπεις — and only their two-syllable plurals (πούμε, δείτε, βρούμε, μπείτε) take a tonos. The look-alike πιες with ε is the command, not the dependent: Πιες το! against Θέλω να το πιεις.

Key Takeaways

Four stems, four openings: present πίν-, imperfect έπιν-, aorist ήπι-, perfective πι-.
The imperfect drops its augment in the plural (πίναμε, πίνατε); the aorist keeps it (ήπιαμε, ήπιατε).
πιω, πιεις, πιει, πιουν are monosyllables and take no tonos; πιούμε and πιείτε do.
Command πιες / πιείτε; perfect έχω πιει; participle πιωμένος, which describes the drinker, not the drink.
Δεν πίνω means teetotal. For "not tonight," use Δεν θα πιω απόψε.

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