συμβαίνει means “happen,” but Modern Greek cites it in the third-person singular rather than as ×συμβαίνω. Its subject is an event, not the person affected by it. That meaning explains the small paradigm: events can happen in singular or plural, but they cannot speak, receive orders, or act as “I” and “you.”
Συνέβη ένα ατύχημα στην εθνική οδό.
sinévi éna atíchima stin ethnikí odhó
An accident happened on the national road.
Τι σου συμβαίνει; Είσαι καλά;
ti su simvéni; íse kalá;
What's wrong with you? Are you all right?
Principal parts
| Slot | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Present | συμβαίνει | συμβαίνουν |
| Imperfect | συνέβαινε | συνέβαιναν |
| Aorist | συνέβη | συνέβησαν |
| Dependent | συμβεί | συμβούν |
| Future / perfect | θα συμβεί · έχει συμβεί | θα συμβούν · έχουν συμβεί |
| 1st / 2nd person | Does not exist in the Standard Modern event verb. | |
| Imperative, mediopassive, -μένος participle | Does not exist. | |
The aorist is irregular: συνέβη, not ×συνέβηκε. Its internal augment and inherited -βη- stem are explained under the internal augment. The old participial material survives as nouns: το συμβάν “the incident” (formal) and τα συμβαίνοντα “current events/what is going on” (formal/literary). Neither creates a modern personal paradigm.
Number remains fully meaningful within the third person. One event συνέβη, several events συνέβησαν; a present situation συμβαίνει, repeated developments συμβαίνουν. Present/imperfect forms present the happening as current or recurring, whereas συνέβη / συμβεί packages it as a bounded occurrence. Perfect έχει συμβεί looks back on an occurrence whose relevance remains current.
Δεν είχε συμβεί ποτέ κάτι παρόμοιο στη γειτονιά μας.
dhen íche simví poté káti parómio sti yitoniá mas
Nothing similar had ever happened in our neighborhood.
The missing imperative is semantic rather than an arbitrary hole: a happening has no intentional agent who can obey a command. The missing first and second persons follow the same logic. Greek expresses English “I happened to…” through the impersonal frame below, not by turning the person into the subject of συμβαίνει.
Three core uses
First, a nominative event happens. Second, Τι συμβαίνει; and Τι σου συμβαίνει; ask what is going on or what is wrong. Third, impersonal συμβαίνει να… means “as it happens” or “happen to.” English can say “I happen to know him,” putting I before happen; Greek keeps συμβαίνει singular and puts the person on the following verb.
Συμβαίνει να τον ξέρω προσωπικά.
simvéni na ton kséro prosopiká
As it happens, I know him personally.
Ό,τι κι αν συμβεί, πάρε με αμέσως.
ó,ti ki an simví, páre me amésos
Whatever happens, call me immediately.
The wider syntax of frozen third-person frames belongs to impersonal constructions. Everyday γίνεται / έγινε overlaps, but does more jobs; see γίνομαι. Τι έγινε; usually asks what happened, while Τι συμβαίνει; readily diagnoses a present problem.
Government
The event is a nominative subject. An affected person appears as a genitive clitic or with σε + accusative; the person never becomes an accusative object of συμβαίνει.
Συνέβη σε έναν φίλο μου πριν από χρόνια.
sinévi se énan fílo mu prin apó chrónia
It happened to a friend of mine years ago.
With a genitive clitic, the affected person comes first in ordinary word order. Μου συνέβη κάτι therefore means “something happened to me,” not “I did something.” The nominative event may follow the verb or remain understood as κάτι / τίποτα from context.
Μου συνέβη κάτι παράξενο στον δρόμο για το σπίτι.
mu sinévi káti parákseno ston dhrómo ya to spíti
Something strange happened to me on the way home.
Set phrases
- δεν συμβαίνει τίποτα — nothing is happening / nothing is wrong
- αυτά συμβαίνουν — these things happen
- ό,τι κι αν συμβεί — whatever happens
- μη συμβεί τίποτα κακό — lest anything bad happen
- συμβαίνει και στις καλύτερες οικογένειες — it happens even in the best families
Δεν συμβαίνει τίποτα, απλώς καθυστερήσαμε.
dhen simvéni típota, aplós kathisterísame
Nothing is wrong; we're simply late.
Αυτά συμβαίνουν και στις καλύτερες οικογένειες.
aftá simvénun ke stis kalíteres ikoyénies
These things happen even in the best families.
Common Mistakes
❌ Συνέβηκε κάτι απρόοπτο.
Incorrect — this verb's aorist is συνέβη, not συνέβηκε.
✅ Συνέβη κάτι απρόοπτο.
sinévi káti apróopto
Something unexpected happened.
Key Takeaways
- συμβαίνει · συνέβαινε · συνέβη · συμβεί; only third-person singular and plural forms exist.
- The event is nominative; an affected person appears in the genitive or after σε.
- συμβαίνει να… means “as it happens,” while Τι συμβαίνει; asks what is going on or wrong.
Related Topics
- πρόκειται να (to be about to)B2 — The two-form impersonal construction πρόκειται / επρόκειτο, its να and για frames, and the learned participial expressions that survive outside its defective paradigm.
- Impersonal ConstructionsB1 — Map Greek impersonal frames by the complement they select: bare weather predicates, modal and evaluative να-clauses, factual που-clauses, and propositional ότι/πως-clauses.
- γίνομαι (to become/happen)A2 — One Greek verb covers become, happen and be-possible: Έγινε γιατρός, Τι έγινε;, Γίνεται; This card gives the paradigm — including the active-shaped aorist έγινα — the nominative predicate, the impersonal γίνεται, and the forms γίνομαι does not have.
- Internal and η- AugmentB2 — How inherited compounds place a visible augment inside the word (υπέγραψα, προέβλεψα) or use stress retraction without a new vowel (ανέβηκα, κατάλαβα, περίμενα), and how four frequent past forms begin with η- (ήθελα, ήξερα, ήπια, ήρθα) — with augment position kept distinct from stem irregularity.
- Principal Parts: Complete IndexA2 — A consolidated index of the principal parts of 151 frequent Modern Greek verbs, including defective and register-limited paradigms.