You will meet this verb's mediopassive before you meet the verb: Συνεχίζεται is what a Greek serial puts on screen where English puts To be continued, and what a news site puts under a developing story. That one form does most of συνεχίζω's public work, and it behaves as though the situation were carrying on by itself.
Principal parts
| Slot | Form | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Present | συνεχίζω, -ζεις, -ζει, -ζουμε, -ζετε, -ζουν(ε) | continue, carry on, resume |
| Imperfect | συνέχιζα | accent retracts to -νέ- |
| Aorist | συνέχισα | same retraction; ζ → σ |
| After θα / να | συνεχίσω, -σεις, -σει, -σουμε, -σετε, -σουν | accent forward again |
| Command | συνέχισε / συνεχίστε | carry on, go on |
| Perfect / pluperfect | έχω / είχα συνεχίσει | one -ει form for both |
| Gerund | συνεχίζοντας | continuing, going on to |
| Mediopassive | συνεχίζεται, συνεχίστηκε, να συνεχιστεί | ordinary continuation readings are mainly third-person |
| Present participle | συνεχιζόμενος(formal) | ongoing, still running |
One ordinary slot is empty, while the mediopassive has a strong usage preference:
- A -μένος participle — does not exist in ordinary use. Where English wants continued, Greek uses συνεχιζόμενος (still going) or the ordinary adjective συνεχής "continuous, unbroken".
- The full -ομαι paradigm is morphologically available, but ordinary continuation readings overwhelmingly have events, works and situations as their subjects. Do not treat συνεχίζομαι / συνεχίζεσαι as everyday personal equivalents of active συνεχίζω; personal forms require a special passive or figurative context.
The ε in συνέχισα is not an augment
This one looks like a trap and is not. συνεχίζω is built on συνεχής "continuous", which is συν- plus the stem of έχω — so the ε sitting between the prefix and the ending is part of the word, present in every single form, including the present συνεχίζω. Nothing is inserted in the past; the accent merely retracts onto a vowel that was always there.
Compare a verb with a genuine internal augment: επιστρέφω → επέστρεψα, where the ι of επι- is displaced by an ε that appears only in the past. That alternation, and where it lands, is on the internal augment. συνεχίζω has nothing of the kind, which is good news: the aorist and the dependent differ from the present only in stress and in the ζ/σ swap.
Συνέχισα από εκεί που σταμάτησα την προηγούμενη φορά.
sinéchisa apó ekí pu stamátisa tin proighúmeni forá
I picked up from where I'd left off last time.
Government
συνεχίζω να is the frame you will use most, and its dependent is always imperfective. This phase-verb frame presents the continuing activity from within; the restriction is lexical, not a general equation of perfective aspect with objective completion. συνεχίζω belongs to the same family as αρχίζω and σταματάω, and the reasoning behind the whole family is on να with the present stem.
Συνεχίζω να πηγαίνω γυμναστήριο τρεις φορές την εβδομάδα.
sinechízo na piyéno yimnastírio tris forés tin evdhomádha
I'm still going to the gym three times a week.
Συνέχισε να τον παίρνεις τηλέφωνο μέχρι να απαντήσει.
sinéchise na ton pérnis tiléfono méchri na apandísi
Keep ringing him until he picks up.
Beyond that it takes a plain accusative object, and it is perfectly happy with no complement at all — which is how it works as an encouragement.
Συνέχισε τη δουλειά σου, θα τα πούμε μετά.
sinéchise ti dhuliá su, tha ta púme metá
Get on with your work, we'll talk later.
Συνέχισε, σε ακούω.
sinéchise, se akúo
Go on, I'm listening.
One verb covers two things English separates. συνεχίζω is both carry on without stopping and pick up again after a break — Greek does not need a second verb for the resumption, the way it reaches for ξαναρχίζω only when something starts over from the beginning.
Συνεχίζεται — the form that runs itself
The mediopassive is especially common when an event, work or situation carries on without an expressed agent: Η κρίση συνεχίζεται. Greek also permits intransitive active συνεχίζει with such subjects, so the mediopassive is not compulsory and does not by itself imply a hidden agent.
Η σειρά συνεχίζεται την επόμενη Τετάρτη στις εννιά.
i sirá sinechízete tin epómeni Tetárti stis eniá
The series continues next Wednesday at nine.
Συνεχίστηκε η συζήτηση και μετά το διάλειμμα.
sinechístike i sizítisi ke metá to dhiálima
The discussion carried on after the break as well.
Η συνεχιζόμενη ανομβρία έχει αδειάσει τα φράγματα.
i sinechizómeni anomvría échi adhiási ta frághmata
The ongoing drought has emptied the reservoirs. (formal — newspaper register)
Set phrases
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Συνεχίζεται | To be continued |
| Η ζωή συνεχίζεται | Life goes on |
| Και συνεχίζουμε | And on we go — a presenter moving to the next item |
| συνεχίζω κανονικά | carry on as normal, as if nothing had happened |
| συνεχίζω από εκεί που σταμάτησα | pick up where I left off |
| συνεχίζω τις προσπάθειες | keep trying, keep at it |
| Συνέχισε έτσι! | Keep it up! |
Συνεχίζουμε κανονικά, δεν αλλάζει τίποτα στο πρόγραμμα.
sinechízume kanoniká, dhen alázi típota sto próghrama
We're carrying on as normal, nothing in the schedule changes.
Key Takeaways
- συνεχίζω · συνέχιζα · συνέχισα · να συνεχίσω · συνέχισε / συνεχίστε · έχω συνεχίσει · συνεχίζοντας.
- The ε of συνέχισα is stem material (συν- + the έχ- of έχω), not an augment — it is there in the present too.
- συνεχίζω να takes an imperfective dependent: the complement is viewed from within as the activity being continued.
- The mediopassive is mainly third-person in ordinary continuation readings: συνεχίζεται, συνεχίστηκε, να συνεχιστεί — and συνεχιζόμενος (formal) for "ongoing". The paradigm itself is not morphologically limited to third person.
- No -μένος participle. The adjective for "continuous" is συνεχής.
Related Topics
- σταματάω/σταματώ (to stop)A2 — A labile verb: Σταμάτησα το αυτοκίνητο and Σταμάτησε η βροχή are the same form with no voice switch in between. Principal parts, the σταμάτησα να / σταμάτησα για να pair that English collapses into one 'stop to', and the one live mediopassive, δεν σταματιέται.
- αρχίζω (to begin)A2 — A phase verb, so it constrains what comes after it: Άρχισε να βρέχει takes the imperfective, because what begins is an activity in progress. All five frames (accusative, να, intransitive, με, από), the aorist άρχισα with its σ, and the άρχισε / άρχιζε pair that separates 'he started' from 'he kept starting'.
- Principal Parts: Complete IndexA2 — A consolidated index of the principal parts of 151 frequent Modern Greek verbs, including defective and register-limited paradigms.
- Present Subjunctive (να + imperfective)A2 — να followed by the imperfective stem — να γράφω, να διαβάζω — presents a subordinated action internally or as an open habit; it can describe a routine or look inside one unfolding event.
- 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.