βγαίνω has an easy paradigm and a hard dictionary entry. Its forms are drilled with the rest of the -αίνω family on nasal-stem verbs; what nobody drills is that Greek uses this one verb where English needs eight. Learn the senses and the frames — the forms come free.
Eight jobs, one verb
| Sense | Typical phrase | English |
|---|---|---|
| leave an enclosed space | βγαίνω από το σπίτι | go/come out of the house |
| go out socially | βγαίνουμε απόψε | we're going out tonight |
| be seeing someone | βγαίνω με κάποιον | I'm dating someone |
| be published, come out | βγήκαν τα αποτελέσματα | the results are out |
| add up, work out | δεν μου βγαίνει ο λογαριασμός | the sum doesn't come out right |
| a colour running, a stain lifting | βγήκε το χρώμα | the colour ran |
| a road or window giving onto | βγαίνει στη θάλασσα | it looks out onto the sea |
| retire | βγήκε στη σύνταξη | he retired |
Βγαίνουμε απόψε με την παρέα, θα έρθεις;
vyénume apópse me tin paréa, tha érthis;
We're going out with the gang tonight — are you coming?
Βγήκαν τα αποτελέσματα και πέρασα με το ζόρι.
vyíkan ta apotelézmata ke pérasa me to zóri
The results came out and I scraped a pass.
Βγήκε στη σύνταξη πέρσι και τώρα ταξιδεύει συνέχεια.
vyíke sti síndaksi pérsi ke tóra taksidhévi sinéchia
He retired last year and now he's travelling constantly.
The forms
| Slot | Form |
|---|---|
| Present | βγαίνω, βγαίνεις, βγαίνει, βγαίνουμε, βγαίνετε, βγαίνουν |
| Imperfect | έβγαινα, έβγαινες, έβγαινε, βγαίναμε, βγαίνατε, έβγαιναν |
| Aorist | βγήκα, βγήκες, βγήκε, βγήκαμε, βγήκατε, βγήκαν — never an augment |
| After θα / να | βγω, βγεις, βγει, βγούμε, βγείτε, βγουν |
| Command | βγες / βγείτε |
| Perfect / pluperfect | έχω, είχα βγει |
| Gerund | βγαίνοντας |
The one detail worth staring at is the augment, or rather its absence. A regular aorist wants its accent three syllables from the end, and γράψα cannot reach that far — so Greek props it up with an έ-: έ-γρα-ψα. βγήκα never enters that system. It belongs to the irregular -ηκα set (βρήκα, μπήκα, βγήκα), whose accent is fixed on the stem's -η- right down the paradigm — βγή-κα, βγή-κα-με — so there is nothing short to prop up. The imperfect έβγαινα is an ordinary formation and does take one, losing it as soon as the word grows (βγαίναμε). Why short aorists need the prop is on the augment; where βγήκα sits in the wider -ηκα group is on irregular and suppletive aorists, and βγες with the other short commands is on irregular imperatives.
Βγαίνοντας από το ασανσέρ, με φώναξε η γειτόνισσα.
vyénondas apó to asansér, me fónakse i yitónisa
As I came out of the lift, the neighbour called after me.
What βγαίνω does not have
- A passive — does not exist. No ×βγαίνομαι, no ×βγήθηκα. The verb is intransitive from top to bottom.
- A -μένος participle — does not exist. The one that looks as if it should belong here, βγαλμένος ("taken out"; βγαλμένος από ταινία, "straight out of a film"), is built on βγάζω, not on this verb.
- A direct object of the thing-moved kind — does not exist. Whatever gets taken out is βγάζω's business: Βγήκα έξω against Έβγαλα τον σκύλο έξω. (The bare accusative in βγαίνω βόλτα is the outing itself, not something being carried out of anywhere.)
Government
| Frame | Example | Reading |
|---|---|---|
από
| Βγήκα από το σπίτι. | the source — what you left |
σε
| Βγήκα στον δρόμο. | the endpoint — where you emerged |
με
| Βγαίνω με τον Στέφανο. | one named person → dating; a group → plain company |
| έξω, έξω από | Βγες έξω λίγο. | reinforcing adverb |
| genitive clitic | Δεν μου βγαίνει. | it doesn't work out for me |
από and σε are both correct and they mean different things, so this is a contrast to learn rather than a choice to fear: Βγήκα από το σπίτι is "I left the house", Βγήκα στο σπίτι is "I came out into the house" — said, for instance, by someone stepping in from the balcony. The full range of από is on the preposition από.
Βγήκα από το σπίτι χωρίς ομπρέλα και το μετάνιωσα.
vyíka apó to spíti chorís ombréla ke to metániosa
I left the house without an umbrella and regretted it.
Το μπαλκόνι βγαίνει στη θάλασσα, γι' αυτό το πήραμε.
to balkóni vyéni sti thálasa, yaftó to pírame
The balcony looks out onto the sea — that's why we took the place.
Δεν μου βγαίνει ο μισθός μέχρι το τέλος του μήνα.
dhen mu vyéni o misthós méchri to télos tu mína
My salary doesn't stretch to the end of the month.
Set phrases
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| βγαίνω έξω | go out for the evening |
| βγαίνω με κάποιον | be dating someone |
| δεν βγαίνει νόημα | it makes no sense |
| βγαίνω στη σύνταξη | retire |
| βγήκε το όνειρό μου | my dream came true |
| βγαίνω από τα ρούχα μου (informal) | lose my temper completely |
| δεν βγαίνω με τον μισθό μου | I can't make ends meet |
| βγήκε ο μήνας (informal) | we got through the month |
| δεν βγαίνει τίποτα (informal) | there's nothing in it, it's going nowhere |
Δεν βγαίνει νόημα από αυτό που έγραψες στο σημείωμα.
dhen vyéni nóima apó aftó pu éghrapses sto simíoma
What you wrote on the note doesn't make any sense.
Common Mistakes
1. Making the dating sense transitive. English I'm seeing Stefanos has an object; Greek needs με, because βγαίνω never takes one.
❌ Βγαίνω τον Στέφανο εδώ και λίγο καιρό.
Incorrect — the dating frame is βγαίνω με + accusative: Βγαίνω με τον Στέφανο.
✅ Βγαίνω με τον Στέφανο εδώ και λίγο καιρό.
vyéno me ton Stéfano edhó ke lígho keró
I've been seeing Stefanos for a while now.
2. Bolting an augment onto βγήκα. The slip has a source: the prefixed relatives do carry one, inside the word — ανεβαίνω gives ανέβηκα, κατεβαίνω κατέβηκα. The two short members never do: βγήκα, and μπήκα — never ×έμπηκα.
❌ Έβγηκα από τη δουλειά νωρίς χθες.
Incorrect — the aorist is βγήκα, with no augment at all.
✅ Βγήκα από τη δουλειά νωρίς χθες και πρόλαβα το γυμναστήριο.
vyíka apó ti dhuliá norís chthes ke prólava to yimnastírio
I got out of work early yesterday and made it to the gym.
Key Takeaways
- The whole verb: βγαίνω · έβγαινα · βγήκα · να βγω · βγες · έχω βγει · βγαίνοντας.
- βγήκα takes no augment — the -ηκα aorists carry their accent on the stem, so there is no short form to prop up. The imperfect έβγαινα does take one, and drops it in βγαίναμε.
- από = the source, σε = the endpoint, με = company. All three are live; they are not alternatives to each other. What decides whether με reads as dating is the complement, not the verb: one named person (Βγαίνω με τον Στέφανο) is romantic, a group (Βγαίνω με τους φίλους μου) is simply going out together.
- No passive, no -μένος participle, no direct object. βγαλμένος and every transitive use belong to βγάζω.
- Beyond "exit", the everyday senses are going out, dating, results appearing, sums adding up, colours running and retiring — six English verbs, one Greek one.
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Start learning Greek →Related Topics
- μπαίνω (to enter)A2 — μπαίν- minus its -αιν- leaves μπ-, which is why the dependent is a single syllable: μπω. Full forms with the aorist μπήκα, the three slots this verb genuinely leaves empty, the σε it drops only before a bare noun, and the senses beyond 'enter' — clothes that fit, jumpers that shrink, a penny that drops, a winter that arrives.
- βγάζω (to take out/off)A2 — The extraction verb that covers eight English ones — take off, take out, remove, earn, produce, publish, photograph, work out. Forms identical to βάζω (έβγαλα, βγάλω, βγάλε, βγαλμένος), the naming frame Τον έβγαλαν Γιώργο, and the line between βγάζω and its intransitive twin βγαίνω.
- Nasal-Stem Verbs (μπαίνω, πίνω)B1 — In μαθαίνω, καταλαβαίνω, μπαίνω, πίνω and δίνω the -ν- or -αιν- belongs to the imperfective half of the verb only — it is there in μαθαίνω and μάθαινα alike, and gone from everything perfective. Drop it and the bare root underneath is the perfective stem (μάθ-, καταλάβ-, μπ-, πι-). Covers the whole family, the -ηκα aorists that look passive and are not, the causative partners in -άζω, and μαθαίνω's double life as both 'learn' and 'teach'.