βλέπω (to see) | Greek Grammar

βλέπω does the work English splits between see, watch and look at, and it does it with two roots that share no letters: βλεπ- for everything imperfective, δ- for everything perfective. The forms are the easy half. The half worth your attention is what comes after the verb, because βλέπω takes three different complements and each one means something different.

The inventory

Slot	Form	Note
Present	βλέπω, βλέπεις, βλέπει, βλέπουμε, βλέπετε, βλέπουν	entirely regular
Imperfect	έβλεπα	also regular — the oddity is confined to the perfective
Aorist	είδα, είδες, είδε, είδαμε, είδατε, είδαν	the ει- is welded on and never drops
Dependent (after θα, να)	δω, δεις, δει, δούμε, δείτε, δουν	a bare δ- plus the ending; it cannot stand alone
Imperative, perfective	δες / δείτε	look!, have a look
Imperative, imperfective	βλέπε / βλέπετε	alive mainly as the printed cross-reference "see p. …" (formal)
Perfect / pluperfect	έχω / είχα δει
Gerund	βλέποντας
Mediopassive	βλέπομαι, βλεπόμαστε	above all reciprocal: "see each other"
Passive aorist	ειδώθηκα	Ειδωθήκαμε χθες — "we saw each other yesterday"
-μένος participle	ιδωμένος	one frame only: ιδωμένο από… "seen from…" (formal)
Perfective stem on βλεπ-	does not exist — no ×βλέψω, no ×έβλεψα; only the learned compounds build one (προβλέπω → προέβλεψα)

The whole paradigm is drilled verb-by-verb on suppletive verbs and irregular perfective stems; what follows is what those pages do not cover.

Την είδα στην αγορά, αλλά έκανε πως δεν με είδε.

tin ídha stin aghorá, alá ékane pos dhen me ídhe

I saw her at the market, but she acted as if she hadn't seen me.

Για τη σύνταξη του ρήματος, βλέπε το επόμενο κεφάλαιο.

ya ti síndaksi tu rímatos, vlépe to epómeno kefáleo

For the syntax of the verb, see the next chapter. (formal — this is where the imperfective command survives)

Ειδωθήκαμε για λίγο στο διάλειμμα και μου τα είπε όλα.

idhothíkame ya lígho sto dhiálima ke mu ta ípe óla

We saw each other briefly during the break and she told me everything.

Government

Frame	Example	What it reports
bare accusative	Τον είδα.	you laid eyes on him
accusative, no article, for the activity	βλέπω τηλεόραση, βλέπω ταινία	watching, as a pastime
να verb	Τον βλέπω να τρέχει.	an event you are watching unfold
που verb	Τον είδα που έφευγε.	a sighting: it happened, you were there
ότι / πως clause	Βλέπω ότι δεν κατάλαβες.	no sight at all — a conclusion

Those last three rows are the page. να presents the action as ongoing, caught in the middle: Τον βλέπω να τρέχει is "I see him running," the running still in progress as you watch. που presents it as a fact you witnessed: Τον είδα που έφευγε is "I saw him leave" — the point is that the leaving happened and you can vouch for it. ότι leaves the eyes out of it altogether: Βλέπω ότι δεν κατάλαβες is "I see (= I gather) you haven't understood," and nothing has been looked at. English hides all three under one word, so this is a distinction you have to build from scratch rather than translate. The wider ότι/να division of labour is on να vs ότι.

Τον βλέπω να τρέχει κάθε πρωί στην παραλία, με βροχή και με λιακάδα.

ton vlépo na tréchi káthe proí stin paralía, me vrochí ke me liakádha

I see him out running on the seafront every morning, rain or shine.

Τον είδα που έμπαινε στο ασανσέρ με δύο βαλίτσες.

ton ídha pu émbene sto asansér me dhío valítses

I saw him getting into the lift with two suitcases.

Βλέπω ότι δεν σε έπεισα καθόλου.

vlépo óti dhen se épisa kathólu

I can see I haven't convinced you in the slightest.

💡

If you can replace your English "I see" with I gather or I notice, Greek wants ότι. If you could replace it with I watched, Greek wants να or που. The test costs a second and it sorts every sentence you will ever build with this verb.

Greek sees a dream

A dream is something you see in Greek — είδα ένα όνειρο — and the verb is not optional colouring: it is the collocation. English "I had a dream" translates into Greek as two different sentences depending on which dream you mean, and both are perfectly good.

Χθες βράδυ είδα πάλι το ίδιο όνειρο, με το σπίτι της γιαγιάς.

chthes vrádhi ídha páli to ídhio óniro, me to spíti tis yayás

Last night I had the same dream again, the one with my grandmother's house.

Έχω ένα όνειρο: να ανοίξω δικό μου μαγαζί πριν τα σαράντα.

écho éna óniro: na aníkso dhikó mu maghazí prin ta saránda

I have a dream: to open my own shop before I turn forty. (an ambition — here έχω is right)

Set phrases

Phrase	Meaning
για δες!	well, look at that (informal)
θα δούμε	we'll see — politely non-committal
βλέπεις…	you see… — a discourse marker opening an explanation
δεν βλέπω την ώρα να…	I can't wait to…
το βλέπω δύσκολο	I doubt it'll happen
βλέπω γιατρό	see a doctor about something
δεν βλέπω άσπρη μέρα	I never get a break (informal)

Δεν βλέπω την ώρα να τελειώσει αυτή η βδομάδα.

dhen vlépo tin óra na teliósi aftí i vdhomádha

I can't wait for this week to be over.

Το βλέπω δύσκολο να προλάβουμε την πτήση με τέτοια κίνηση.

to vlépo dhískolo na prolávume tin ptísi me tétia kínisi

I doubt we'll make the flight with traffic like this.

Για δες ποιος θυμήθηκε να μας πάρει τηλέφωνο!

ya dhes pios thimíthike na mas pári tiléfono

Well look who remembered to give us a ring!

Key Takeaways

Two roots, no overlap: βλεπ- for present, imperfect and gerund; δ- for είδα, δω, δες, δει. βλέπω itself builds no perfective on βλεπ- — only its learned compounds do (προέβλεψα).
The three complements are three meanings: να = watching it unfold, που = a sighting you can vouch for, ότι = a conclusion with no seeing in it.
βλέπε / βλέπετε survives as the printed (formal) cross-reference "see page…"; the everyday command is δες / δείτε.
The mediopassive is mostly reciprocal — βλεπόμαστε, ειδωθήκαμε "we see / saw each other". The participle ιδωμένος lives in one (formal) frame, ιδωμένο από.
Greek sees a dream (είδα ένα όνειρο) and has an ambition (έχω ένα όνειρο).

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