πληρώνω (to pay) | Greek Grammar

The forms of πληρώνω hold no surprises. What does surprise English speakers is that the half of this verb they need most often is the mediopassive: Greek says I am paid where English says I earn, and a learner who does not know that says the active and means the opposite. That, and the fact that the bill and the plumber are the same kind of object, is what this card is for.

Principal parts

Slot	Active	Mediopassive
Present	πληρώνω, πληρώνεις, πληρώνει…	πληρώνομαι, πληρώνεσαι, πληρώνεται…
Imperfect	πλήρωνα — plural πληρώναμε, πληρώνατε	πληρωνόμουν
Aorist	πλήρωσα — plural πληρώσαμε, πληρώσατε	πληρώθηκα
After θα / να	πληρώσω, πληρώσεις, πληρώσει…	πληρωθώ, πληρωθείς, πληρωθεί…
Command	πλήρωσε / πληρώστε	—
Perfect	έχω / είχα πληρώσει	έχω πληρωθεί
Gerund / participle	πληρώνοντας	πληρωμένος

Nothing here is irregular: the stem ends in a vowel, so the perfective just adds -σ- (πλήρωσα) and the passive just adds -θηκ- (πληρώθηκα), the ordinary pattern set out on the passive aorist. The augment is the plain stress-carrier and drops in the longer forms: πλήρωσα but πληρώσαμε.

πληρώνομαι = I get paid

Greek	English
Πότε πληρώνεσαι;	When do you get paid?
Πληρώνεται καλά.	She earns well. / She's well paid.
Δεν πληρωθήκαμε ακόμα.	We haven't been paid yet.
Πληρώνομαι με το κομμάτι.	I'm paid by the piece.

English splits this into two verbs, pay and earn. Greek splits nothing — it flips the voice, and πληρώνομαι covers both get paid and, with an adverb, earn. The active never means this: Πληρώνω χίλια ευρώ is money leaving your hands.

Πληρώνομαι στις δεκαπέντε κάθε μήνα.

plirónome stis dhekapénde káthe mína

I get paid on the fifteenth of every month.

Πληρώνεται πολύ καλά για την ηλικία της.

plirónete polí kalá ya tin ilikía tis

She earns very well for her age.

Δεν μας έχουν πληρώσει ακόμα τον Ιούλιο.

dhen mas échun plirósi akóma ton Iúlio

They still haven't paid us for July.

💡

The two voices divide the world by who is out of pocket. If money leaves you, use the active; if money reaches you, use πληρώνομαι. Greek keeps κερδίζω for money you make — profit, winnings, a bet — so a salary is πληρώνομαι and never κερδίζω. To name the amount itself, everyday Greek reaches instead for βγάζω or παίρνω: Πόσα βγάζεις τον μήνα;, Παίρνει χίλια διακόσια.

Government

Frame	Example	Reading
accusative — a sum or a bill	Πλήρωσα τον λογαριασμό.	what was paid
accusative — a person	Πλήρωσα τον υδραυλικό.	who was paid
genitive clitic, or σε	Του πλήρωσα τα δεδουλευμένα.	the recipient, when the sum is also named
με accusative	με κάρτα, με μετρητά, με δόσεις	how
για accusative	Πόσα πλήρωσες για το αυτοκίνητο;	what you got for the money
για accusative	Θα το πληρώσεις για ό,τι έκανες.	what you are being made to pay for

The row that costs English speakers most is the second: the person you pay is a direct object, exactly like the bill — Πλήρωσα τον υδραυλικό, not a preposition in sight. When both objects turn up at once, the recipient steps back into a clitic or a σε phrase and the sum keeps the accusative.

Πλήρωσα εγώ τον λογαριασμό, εσύ κέρασες τον καφέ.

plírosa eghó ton loghariazmó, esí kérases ton kafé

I paid the bill, you got the coffees.

Πλήρωσα τον ηλεκτρολόγο και έφυγε χωρίς απόδειξη.

plírosa ton ilektrológho ke éfiye chorís apódhiksi

I paid the electrician and he left without giving a receipt.

Πόσα πλήρωσες για το αυτοκίνητο τελικά;

pósa plíroses ya to aftokínito teliká;

How much did you end up paying for the car?

πληρώνω για is perfectly good Greek — it names the goods you received, or the deed you are being punished for. It is only with a bill that it misfires, and for a reason worth knowing: a λογαριασμός already is the sum, so there is nothing left for για to point at. Πλήρωσα τον λογαριασμό, then — and save the preposition for the car.

Θα το πληρώσεις πολύ ακριβά αυτό που έκανες.

tha to plirósis polí akrivá aftó pu ékanes

You'll pay dearly for what you did.

πληρωμένος

Έχει δύο μήνες πληρωμένη άδεια και δεν ξέρει τι να την κάνει.

échi dhío mínes pliroméni ádhia ke dhen kséri ti na tin káni

She has two months of paid leave and doesn't know what to do with it.

The participle describes whatever the money reached: πληρωμένη άδεια paid leave, πληρωμένος δολοφόνος a hired killer, and the frozen πληρωμένη απάντηση, a comeback so apt it reads as pre-paid.

What πληρώνω does not have

A participle for the payer — does not exist. πληρωμένος is always the side that received the money. "The customer who paid" has to be a relative clause: ο πελάτης που πλήρωσε.
A "costs" reading — does not exist. A price tag never πληρώνει: "it costs ten euros" is κάνει or κοστίζει δέκα ευρώ. (A job that πληρώνει καλά is fine — there the subject is the payer.)

Set phrases

Phrase	Meaning
πληρώνω τα σπασμένα (informal)	carry the can for someone else's mess
άλλος πληρώνει τη νύφη (informal)	somebody else takes the blame
Θα το πληρώσεις ακριβά	you'll pay for this
πληρώνω τοις μετρητοίς	pay cash — a frozen dative
πληρώνω με δόσεις	pay in instalments
Ποιος πληρώνει;	who's paying? — said as the bill lands
πληρώνομαι με το κομμάτι	be paid piece-rate

Πάλι εγώ θα πληρώσω τα σπασμένα.

páli eghó tha pliróso ta spazména

It'll be me carrying the can again.

Το πλήρωσε τοις μετρητοίς και πήρε έκπτωση.

to plírose tis metritís ke píre ékptosi

He paid for it in cash and got a discount.

Key Takeaways

πληρώνω · πλήρωνα · πλήρωσα · να πληρώσω · πλήρωσε / πληρώστε · έχω πληρώσει.
πληρώνομαι / πληρώθηκα = get paid, earn. This is the half of the verb you will use about your own salary.
Both the bill and the person are direct objects: Πλήρωσα τον λογαριασμό, Πλήρωσα τον υδραυλικό.
για names what you got or what you are paying for — not the bill, which is already the sum.
πληρωμένος marks what the money reached, never the payer; "it costs" is κάνει / κοστίζει.

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