πουλάω / πουλώ is the everyday verb “sell”; both present forms keep ου. Beside it stands the learned relative πωλώ, whose passive ΠΩΛΕΙΤΑΙ fills classified ads and shop windows. The two spellings descend from the same historical verb but now signal different registers.
Πούλησα το παλιό μου ποδήλατο σε έναν φοιτητή.
púlisa to palió mu podhílato se énan fitití
I sold my old bicycle to a student.
The everyday paradigm
| Slot | Form | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Present | πουλάω / πουλώ, πουλάς, πουλάει / πουλά, πουλάμε, πουλάτε, πουλάνε / πουλούν | both ending sets are current |
| Imperfect | πουλούσα | |
| Aorist | πούλησα | |
| Dependent / perfect | να πουλήσω / έχω πουλήσει | |
| Imperative | πούλα / πουλήστε | |
| Mediopassive | πουλιέμαι · πουλήθηκα · να πουληθώ | ordinary passive and “find buyers” |
| Participle | πουλημένος, -η, -ο | sold; also “bought off” |
| Missing core slots | none | the everyday paradigm is complete |
Μου πούλησαν ένα κινητό που σταμάτησε να δουλεύει την ίδια μέρα.
mu púlisan éna kinitó pu stamátise na dhulévi tin ídhia méra
They sold me a phone that stopped working the same day.
Το σπίτι δεν πουλιέται εύκολα σ' αυτή την τιμή.
to spíti dhen puliéte éfkola s' aftí tin timí
The house is not easy to sell at this price.
The participle πουλημένος can be literal—an already sold item—or describe a person who has been bought off. The second reading is figurative and strongly negative. Context, rather than morphology, decides whether a transaction or a betrayal is being described.
Why ΠΩΛΕΙΤΑΙ looks unrelated
| Layer | Forms | Register |
|---|---|---|
| Everyday verb | πουλάω, πούλησα, πουλιέται, πουλήθηκε | neutral, conversational |
| Learned verb | πωλώ, πωλείται, πωλούνται, πώλησε | (formal); notices, legal and commercial writing |
| Action noun | η πώληση, οι πωλήσεις | neutral commercial vocabulary |
| Seller | ο πωλητής / η πωλήτρια | neutral |
Πωλείται μικρό διαμέρισμα κοντά στο μετρό.
políte mikró dhiamérizma kondá sto metró
Small flat for sale near the metro. (formal notice)
Η εταιρεία πώλησε το ακίνητο σε ξένο επενδυτή.
i etería pólise to akínito se kséno ependhití
The company sold the property to a foreign investor. (formal)
The spelling split is a lexical fact, not a productive sound-to-letter rule. In conversation choose πούλησα; πώλησα / πώλησε belongs to the learned verb and remains real in formal, especially legal or financial, prose. The sign form is not invariable: Πωλείται διαμέρισμα, but Πωλούνται διαμερίσματα.
Government
The thing sold is an accusative object. The buyer is a genitive clitic or σε + accusative. Price commonly appears as a bare accusative measure; για + accusative is also possible when the figure is emphasized.
Το πούλησα εκατό ευρώ και πήρα αμέσως καινούριο.
to púlisa ekató evró ke píra amésos kenúrio
I sold it for a hundred euros and immediately got a new one.
Του πούλησα το αυτοκίνητο με όλα τα έγγραφα.
tu púlisa to aftokínito me óla ta éngrafa
I sold him the car with all the paperwork.
For the opposite transaction, αγοράζω has its own card; the participant frames and bare price are parallel. The agreement pattern of Πωλείται / Πωλούνται is developed under impersonal passives.
Set phrases
πουλάει καλά “it sells well”; τα πούλησε όλα “he sold everything”; πουλάω φτηνά “sell cheaply”; θέση πωλητή “sales assistant vacancy”; πουλάω μούρη “show off” (informal); πουλάω τρέλα “act crazy / brazen it out” (informal).
Το καινούριο μοντέλο πουλάει πολύ καλά από την πρώτη εβδομάδα.
to kenúrio mondélo pulái polí kalá apó tin próti evdhomádha
The new model has been selling very well since its first week.
Πουλάει μούρη από τότε που πήρε προαγωγή.
pulái múri apó tóte pu píre proaghoghí
He's been showing off since he got promoted. (informal)
Common Mistakes
❌ Πουλείται ισόγειο κατάστημα στο κέντρο.
Incorrect spelling—the formal notice form is πωλείται, while the everyday form is πουλιέται.
✅ Πωλείται ισόγειο κατάστημα στο κέντρο.
políte isóyio katástima sto kéndro
Ground-floor shop for sale in the centre. (formal notice)
Key Takeaways
- Everyday: πουλάω / πουλώ · πουλούσα · πούλησα · να πουλήσω · πούλα / πουλήστε.
- πουλιέται is everyday; πωλείται belongs to learned πωλώ.
- The buyer is a genitive clitic or σε phrase; the price can be a bare accusative.
Related Topics
- αγοράζω (to buy)A2 — Morphologically the dullest verb on this shelf — αγοράζω, αγόρασα, να αγοράσω — and useful mostly for knowing when Greek does not use it: παίρνω does the everyday shopping, the price goes in a bare accusative, and η αγορά is both the purchase and the market.
- πληρώνω (to pay)A2 — The verb where the mediopassive is the one you need most: πληρώνομαι is ordinary Greek for 'I get paid' and 'I earn'. Plus the double accusative — the bill and the plumber are the same kind of object — and what πληρωμένος actually describes.
- Principal Parts: Complete IndexA2 — A consolidated index of the principal parts of 151 frequent Modern Greek verbs, including defective and register-limited paradigms.
- Impersonal and Agentless PassivesB2 — The two routes Greek uses to keep the doer out of the sentence: mediopassive forms in signs, notices and reports — including completed agentless events such as Ανακοινώθηκε and Δόθηκε — and the everyday subjectless third-person plural (Μου έκλεψαν το πορτοφόλι, Λένε ότι…).
- Prices and MoneyA2 — Ask and answer questions about prices, understand the bare accusative of price, quote per-unit rates, and handle everyday payment language in Greek.
- Learned–Demotic DoubletsC1 — Read and choose learned and demotic Greek word pairs by register, domain, and specialized modern meaning.