πρέπει is extremely common but barely has a paradigm. In its obligation and inference uses it is frozen in the third-person singular: the person who must act appears not on πρέπει but on the verb after να. This lookup card records what exists, what does not, and the separate “suit/be fitting” use that prevents an over-broad claim that πρέπει has only one form.
Πρέπει να φύγω σε δέκα λεπτά.
prépi na fígho se dhéka leptá
I have to leave in ten minutes.
Πρέπει να φύγεις σε δέκα λεπτά.
prépi na fíyis se dhéka leptá
You have to leave in ten minutes.
The impersonal inventory
| Frame | Form | Typical value |
|---|---|---|
| Present | πρέπει | must, has to; must be |
| Imperfect | έπρεπε | had to; should have |
| θα + present | θα πρέπει | will need to; probably; softened obligation |
| θα + imperfect | θα έπρεπε | ought to, should |
| embedded present | να πρέπει | marginal, inside another subordinate frame |
There is no six-person series in these meanings. The obligation verb has no first or second person, no aorist, no perfect, no imperative, no mediopassive, and no passive participle in -μένος.
| Missing slot | Status in the impersonal sense |
|---|---|
| 1st / 2nd person | Does not exist: no ×πρέπω or ×πρέπουμε meaning “must.” |
| Aorist / perfect | Does not exist: no ×έπρεψε and no perfect form. |
| Imperative | Does not exist: prohibition uses Δεν πρέπει (να…). |
| Mediopassive / -μένος | Does not exist. |
English must also changes little, but it still combines directly with I, you, or they. Greek does not: πρέπει has no personal subject of its own. Only the dependent verb distinguishes φύγω, φύγεις, and φύγουν.
Όλοι πρέπει να είμαστε εκεί πριν από τις οκτώ.
óli prépi na ímaste ekí prin apó tis októ
We all have to be there before eight.
The obligation system, negation, and έπρεπε να are taught on impersonal πρέπει and μπορεί. Inferential πρέπει να είναι, hedged θα πρέπει, and aspect after να belong to modal πρέπει. Perfect counterfactual θα έπρεπε να είχα… is covered under the perfect conditional.
Government
Impersonal πρέπει obligatorily takes να + dependent verb, overtly or by clear contextual ellipsis. It does not take a bare noun complement in the obligation sense: for “attention is needed,” say Χρειάζεται προσοχή, not ×Πρέπει προσοχή. The practical choice is developed on πρέπει vs χρειάζεται.
Δεν ξέρω αν πρέπει να του το πω σήμερα.
dhen kséro an prépi na tu to po símera
I don't know whether I should tell him today.
The separate πρέπω sense
The related verb πρέπω means “suit, become, be deserved” and is limited to third-person present-stem forms. This personal use is folk-style rather than neutral everyday Greek. It has a nominative subject and a genitive experiencer, licensing real plurals πρέπουν and past έπρεπαν; therefore “πρέπει never varies” is true only of the impersonal modal.
Δεν σου πρέπει αυτό το χρώμα· σε χλωμαίνει.
dhen su prépi aftó to chróma; se chloméni
That colour doesn't suit you; it makes you look pale. (folk-style)
Δε σου πρέπουν αυτά τα ρούχα, είναι πολύ επίσημα.
dhe su prépun aftá ta rúcha, íne polí epísima
Those clothes don't suit you; they're too formal. (folk-style)
Καλά του πρέπει, αφού φέρθηκε τόσο άσχημα.
kalá tu prépi, afú férthike tóso áschima
It serves him right, since he behaved so badly. (informal)
The learned active participle πρέπων, πρέπουσα, πρέπον also survives. It is not a passive participle of modal πρέπει, and it belongs to formal language.
Η αίτηση πρέπει να εξεταστεί με την πρέπουσα προσοχή.
i étisi prépi na eksetastí me tin prépusa prosochí
The application must be examined with due care. (formal)
Set phrases
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| όπως πρέπει | properly, as one should |
| ό,τι πρέπει | just right; just the thing |
| Δεν πρέπει. | You mustn't. / It is not allowed. |
| τα πρέποντα | what is proper (formal) |
Αυτό το μικρό τραπέζι είναι ό,τι πρέπει για το μπαλκόνι.
aftó to mikró trapézi íne ó,ti prépi ya to balkóni
This small table is just right for the balcony.
Το έφτιαξε όπως πρέπει, χωρίς βιασύνη.
to éftiakse ópos prépi, chorís viasíni
He fixed it properly, without rushing.
Common Mistakes
❌ Εγώ πρέπω να φύγω τώρα.
Incorrect — obligation πρέπει is impersonal and never agrees with the person who must act.
✅ Πρέπει να φύγω τώρα.
prépi na fígho tóra
I have to leave now.
The form πρέπω is real only in the separate “suit/be deserved” sense above; it is not first-person πρέπει.
Key Takeaways
- Impersonal πρέπει / έπρεπε has no personal paradigm, aorist, perfect, imperative, mediopassive, or -μένος participle.
- Person is carried by the verb after να: πρέπει να φύγω / φύγεις / φύγουν.
- Folk-style πρέπω allows third-person plural πρέπουν; learned πρέπων, -ουσα, -ον survives in formal language.
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- μπορώ (can/to be able)A2 — The model Class Β2 verb: -ώ, -είς, -εί all the way down, with no -άω doublet, an aorist μπόρεσα in the small -εσ- group, and neither an imperative nor a mediopassive paradigm in current Standard Greek. Plus the two things only this card carries — Δεν τον μπορώ ('I can't stand him') and the health reading of bare Δεν μπορώ.
- χρειάζομαι (to need)A2 — The personal syntax Χρειάζομαι βοήθεια beside impersonal Χρειάζεται να φύγουμε, with agreement and principal parts.
- Impersonal πρέπει / μπορεί ναB1 — The two invariable modal frames — πρέπει να for obligation ('must / have to') and μπορεί να for possibility ('may / might') — where the modal never changes and the person is carried by the να-verb, plus their pasts έπρεπε να and μπορεί να + past.
- Obligation: πρέπει / έπρεπεA2 — Two things the obligation frame does beyond 'must': the evidential πρέπει να είναι κουρασμένος ('he must be tired' — a deduction, not a duty, signalled by what kind of verb, and what tense, you put after να), and the way aspect commonly contrasts a bounded instruction (Πρέπει να πάρεις) with an open standing rule (Πρέπει να παίρνεις) — plus the double life of Έπρεπε να, 'had to' and 'should have' in one form.
- πρέπει vs χρειάζεταιB1 — Choose πρέπει να for obligation or requirement, χρειάζεται να for practical necessity, and personal χρειάζομαι for a needed thing—especially under negation.
- Principal Parts: Complete IndexA2 — A consolidated index of the principal parts of 151 frequent Modern Greek verbs, including defective and register-limited paradigms.