βγάζω (to take out/off) | Greek Grammar

βγάζω is the highest-yield verb of extraction in Greek, and its senses look nothing like each other in English. Learn it next to βάζω: the two are a matched pair down to the last letter of every form, one putting in and one taking out.

One verb, eight English ones

Greek	English
βγάζω το παλτό μου	take off (clothes, shoes, glasses)
βγάζω τα σκουπίδια	take out
βγάζω τον λεκέ	get out, remove
βγάζω λεφτά	earn, make
βγάζει καλό λάδι (of a place)	produce, yield
βγάζω βιβλίο	bring out, publish
βγάζω φωτογραφία	take a photo
βγάζω άκρη	work it out, make sense of it

Βγάλε τα παπούτσια σου στην είσοδο, παρακαλώ.

vghále ta papútsia su stin ísodho, parakaló

Take your shoes off in the hallway, please.

Βγάζει καλά λεφτά, αλλά δουλεύει δώδεκα ώρες τη μέρα.

vgházi kalá leftá, alá dhulévi dhódheka óres ti méra

She makes good money, but she works twelve hours a day.

Μας έβγαλε μια φωτογραφία μπροστά στο λιμάνι.

mas évghale mia fotoghrafía brostá sto limáni

He took a photo of us in front of the harbour.

Principal parts

Slot	Form
Present	βγάζω, βγάζεις, βγάζει, βγάζουμε, βγάζετε, βγάζουν
Imperfect	έβγαζα — plural βγάζαμε, βγάζατε
Aorist	έβγαλα, έβγαλες, έβγαλε, βγάλαμε, βγάλατε, έβγαλαν
After θα / να	βγάλω, βγάλεις, βγάλει, βγάλουμε, βγάλετε, βγάλουν
Command	βγάλε / βγάλτε
Perfect / pluperfect	έχω / είχα βγάλει
Participle	βγαλμένος — taken off, taken out
Gerund	βγάζοντας

Put a β in front of every form of βάζω and you have this verb. What you must not do is let it blur into βγαίνω, which sounds related and is a different verb with a different aorist: Έβγαλα το παλτό (I took my coat off) against Βγήκα έξω (I went out). βγάζω moves a thing; βγαίνω moves you. They are a suppletive causative pair, and the wider pattern behind such pairs is on active/passive verb pairs; the intransitive half has its own card at βγαίνω.

💡

Three verbs, one family, and the past tense is where they sort themselves out: έβαλα (I put in), έβγαλα (I took out), βγήκα (I went out). Ask one question before you choose — is there a thing being moved? If yes, you need έβγαλα; if the only thing going anywhere is the subject, you need βγήκα.

Government

Frame	Example	Reading
accusative object	Έβγαλα τα γυαλιά μου.	the default
από accusative	Έβγαλα τα λεφτά από την τσέπη.	where it came out of
accusative + bare noun	Τον έβγαλαν Γιώργο.	naming — the name stays accusative
βγάζω + noun (light verb)	βγάζω λόγο, βγάζω φωτογραφία	the noun carries the meaning
genitive clitic	Μου έβγαλαν το δόντι.	whose it was
no object — of a road, a line of argument	Πού βγάζει αυτός ο δρόμος;	lead, come out at

Έβγαλα τα λεφτά από την τσέπη και τα μέτρησα δύο φορές.

évghala ta leftá apó tin tsépi ke ta métrisa dhío forés

I took the money out of my pocket and counted it twice.

Τον έβγαλαν Γιώργο, όπως τον παππού του.

ton évghalan Yórgho, ópos ton papú tu

They named him Yorgos, after his grandfather.

What βγάζω does not have

An intransitive "go out" — does not exist, with one exception worth knowing: anything that leads somewhere — a road, or a line of argument — can βγάζει, and there the verb is objectless and means lead to: Πού βγάζει αυτός ο δρόμος;, Δεν βγάζει πουθενά αυτή η κουβέντα. Anything that goes out under its own steam uses βγαίνω instead — and a road can take that verb too, with a shift of angle: βγάζει is where it delivers you, βγαίνει is what it opens onto.
A live passive — effectively does not exist. Conjugation tables print βγάλθηκα, but it is vanishingly rare in speech. "It came out" is the intransitive twin: Βγήκε το δόντι, Η φωτογραφία βγήκε θολή. The participle βγαλμένος is the one mediopassive form in daily circulation.
An aorist in ξ — does not exist. No έβγαξα: the root is βγαλ-, exactly as βάζω's is βαλ-.

Δεν βγάζω άκρη με αυτές τις οδηγίες.

dhen vgházo ákri me aftés tis odhiyíes

I can't make head or tail of these instructions.

Set phrases

Phrase	Meaning
τα βγάζω πέρα	get by, manage
βγάζω το ψωμί μου	earn my living
δεν βγάζω νόημα	I can't make sense of it
βγάζω γλώσσα (informal)	talk back, be lippy
βγάζω λόγο	make a speech
βγάζω τον σκύλο βόλτα	walk the dog
μου βγάζει το λάδι (informal)	it works me into the ground

Με έναν μισθό δεν τα βγάζουμε πέρα.

me énan misthó dhen ta vgházume péra

On one salary we don't make ends meet.

Βγάζω τον σκύλο βόλτα κάθε βράδυ στις εννιά.

vgházo ton skílo vólta káthe vrádhi stis eniá

I walk the dog every evening at nine.

Common Mistakes

Using βγάζω for going out. With a person as its subject it is transitive: something must come out of somewhere. An evening out is βγαίνω.

❌ Το Σάββατο βγάζω με τους φίλους μου.

Incorrect — βγάζω is transitive. Going out with people is βγαίνω.

✅ Το Σάββατο βγαίνω με τους φίλους μου.

to Sávato vyéno me tus fílus mu

On Saturday I'm going out with my friends.

The photograph, on the other hand, is a genuine fork rather than an error. βγάζω φωτογραφία is the standard verb for taking the picture; παίρνω φωτογραφία normally means picking a print up, as in the second sentence below. Used for taking a photo it reads as an English calque.

Έβγαλα καμιά εικοσαριά φωτογραφίες στο πανηγύρι.

évghala kamiá ikosariá fotoghrafíes sto paniyíri

I took twenty-odd photos at the festival.

Πήρε μια φωτογραφία από το συρτάρι και μου την έδειξε.

píre mia fotoghrafía apó to sirtári ke mu tin édhikse

She took a photo out of the drawer and showed it to me.

Key Takeaways

βγάζω · έβγαζα · έβγαλα · να βγάλω · βγάλε / βγάλτε · έχω βγάλει · βγαλμένος — the whole paradigm is βάζω with a β in front.
Eight English verbs in one: take off, take out, remove, earn, produce, publish, photograph, work out.
βγάζω is transitive; βγαίνω is not. Έβγαλα το παλτό against Βγήκα έξω. The one object-free use worth knowing is something that leads somewhere — a road, an argument.
Naming takes a bare accusative noun: Τον έβγαλαν Γιώργο.
No έβγαξα, and no passive worth using — βγήκε does that work.

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