Dictionaries hand you ξεκινάω and αρχίζω as one entry, and they are not one word. ξεκινάω still has the movement in it that its ancient ancestor had — things that ξεκινάνε leave a place — and that sense is unavailable to αρχίζω. This card draws the line and then lists what the verb takes.
Principal parts
| Slot | Forms | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Present | ξεκινάω/ξεκινώ, ξεκινάς, ξεκινάει/ξεκινά, ξεκινάμε/ξεκινούμε, ξεκινάτε, ξεκινάνε/ξεκινούν(ε) | -άω (informal) beside -ώ (formal) |
| Imperfect | ξεκινούσα — also ξεκίναγα (informal) | |
| Aorist | ξεκίνησα | the default -ησα, despite the -άω present |
| Dependent (θα, να) | ξεκινήσω | |
| Imperative | ξεκίνα / ξεκινάτε · ξεκίνησε / ξεκινήστε | imperfective · perfective |
| Perfect | έχω ξεκινήσει | |
| Gerund | ξεκινώντας | ξεκινώντας από… starting from… |
| Noun | το ξεκίνημα | the start, the outset: κακό ξεκίνημα |
| Mediopassive | does not exist | nothing is ξεκινιέμαι; the plain active covers the intransitive sense |
Watch the aorist. Two other -άω verbs on neighbouring cards take -ασα — δίψασα, πέρασα — and the pull towards ×ξεκίνασα is strong. It is wrong: ξεκινάω takes the majority -ησα, which is where the Class Β aorist puts it.
What only ξεκινάω can do
The two verbs come from different places and it shows. αρχίζω is built on η αρχή, a beginning; ξεκινάω is ξε- on the stem of κινώ "move", so its literal content is get moving out of here. Everything it does that αρχίζω cannot — engines, departures, walkers, the point a road comes from — is that image still at work.
Ξεκινάμε στις οχτώ για Πάτρα, να είσαι έτοιμος.
ksekináme stis ochtó ya Pátra, na íse étimos
We're setting off at eight for Patra — be ready.
Πάτησε μίζα τρεις φορές αλλά δεν ξεκίνησε.
pátise míza tris forés alá dhen ksekínise
He tried the ignition three times but it wouldn't start.
Ξεκίνησα με τα πόδια και έφτασα πιο γρήγορα από το λεωφορείο.
ksekínisa me ta pódhia ke éftasa pio ghríghora apó to leoforío
I set off on foot and got there quicker than the bus.
None of those three would take αρχίζω. And there is a second sense the motion one throws off: origin. A tradition, a road or a price can ξεκινάει από somewhere — the point it comes from rather than the moment it begins.
Η γιορτή αυτή ξεκινάει από τα βυζαντινά χρόνια.
i yortí aftí ksekinái apó ta vizandiná chrónia
This festival goes back to Byzantine times.
Τα εισιτήρια ξεκινάνε από δεκαπέντε ευρώ.
ta isitíria ksekináne apó dhekapénde evró
Tickets start from fifteen euros.
Government
| Frame | Example | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| no complement | Ξεκίνα! | off you go |
| accusative object | Ξεκίνησα καινούρια δουλειά. | begin a thing |
να
| Ξεκίνησα να διαβάζω. | begin doing — see below |
από
| Ξεκινάμε από την αρχή. | origin, starting point, lower limit |
για
| Ξεκίνησαν για τη Ρόδο. | destination |
με
| Ξεκίνησα με τα πόδια. | means, or the first item |
από does double duty here: with αρχίζω it marks only the point you begin work from, with ξεκινάω also the place something comes from.
What the να frame does and does not tell you
ξεκινάω opens a να-frame in both of its senses, and the aspect of the dependent does exactly what aspect always does in Greek: it says whether you are viewing the second event as an activity running or as one bounded whole. Ξεκίνησα να διαβάζω sets the reading going; Ξεκίνησα να διαβάσω το βιβλίο packages it as one thing you set about. Both are ordinary, and — against what learners are often told — neither aspect tells you which ξεκινάω you have.
Ξεκίνησα να διαβάζω το βιβλίο σου, αλλά με πήρε ο ύπνος.
ksekínisa na dhiavázo to vivlío su, alá me píre o ípnos
I started reading your book, but I fell asleep.
Ξεκίνησα να φύγω και με πρόλαβε στην πόρτα με άλλη μια ερώτηση.
ksekínisa na fígho ke me prólave stin pórta me áli mia erótisi
I made a move to leave and he caught me at the door with one more question.
What separates the departure sense from plain "begin" is the rest of the sentence: a destination (για Πάτρα), a starting point (από το σπίτι), a means (με τα πόδια), or a complement that is itself a verb of going. Strip those away and ξεκινάω means begin, whatever aspect follows.
The να itself is never optional — Greek has no bare-infinitive shortcut, so ×ξεκινάω διαβάζω is not an abbreviation of anything. Which verbs open this frame at all is on να after modals.
Rain, and which verb starts it
Άρχισε να χιονίζει κατά τα μεσάνυχτα.
árchise na chionízi katá ta mesánichta
It started snowing around midnight.
Ξεκίνησε να βρέχει την ώρα που απλώναμε τα ρούχα.
ksekínise na vréchi tin óra pu aplóname ta rúcha
It started raining just as we were hanging out the washing.
The two imperatives divide the same way. Ξεκίνα leaves the departure open — get going, be on your way — while ξεκίνησε treats the setting-off as one act to perform now. ξεκίνα is what you call to somebody who ought already to be moving; the plural ξεκινήστε is what an instructor says to a room. The contrast itself belongs to aspect in the imperative.
Set phrases
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ξεκινάω από το μηδέν | start from nothing |
| Από πού ξεκινάμε; | Where do we start? |
| Πάμε, ξεκινάμε! (informal) | Right, off we go! |
| ξεκίνησε η ταινία | the film has started |
| ξεκινάω δουλειά στις εννιά | I start work at nine |
| κακό ξεκίνημα | a bad start |
Ξεκίνησε από το μηδέν και τώρα έχει τρία μαγαζιά.
ksekínise apó to midhén ke tóra échi tría maghaziá
He started from nothing and now he's got three shops.
Ξεκίνα εσύ, θα σε βρω εκεί.
ksekína esí, tha se vro ekí
You set off — I'll meet you there.
The verb at the other end of the journey is σταματάω; the class is indexed on principal parts.
Key Takeaways
- ξεκινάω/ξεκινώ · ξεκινούσα · ξεκίνησα · να ξεκινήσω · ξεκίνα / ξεκινήστε · έχω ξεκινήσει · ξεκινώντας.
- The aorist is -ησα, not the -ασα of δίψασα and πέρασα: ×ξεκίνασα is the trap.
- It carries a motion sense αρχίζω has not got — cars, journeys, walkers — and an origin sense: traditions and prices ξεκινάνε από.
- After να the aspect reports how you view the second event, not which ξεκινάω you mean — context does that.
- No mediopassive. For weather both verbs are current; αρχίζω is the plainer of the two.
Related Topics
- 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'.
- 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.
- Principal Parts: Complete IndexA2 — A consolidated index of the principal parts of 151 frequent Modern Greek verbs, including defective and register-limited paradigms.
- να After Modal VerbsA2 — The everyday frame [modal + να + verb] — θέλω να, μπορώ να, πρέπει να, ξέρω να, πάω να, αρχίζω να — where the second verb is person-marked and personal main verbs conjugate too.
- Aorist: Class ΒA2 — The aorist of second-conjugation (Class Β) verbs — the contract verbs in -άω/-ώ. They are the most regular aorist in Greek: slot a linking vowel before the -σ- and add the past endings — αγάπησα, μίλησα, ρώτησα, περπάτησα. Covers the three linking-vowel families (-ησ-, -ασ-, -εσ-), the stress that rides the antepenult, and the -εύω lookalikes that are really Class Α.