Deponent Verbs in Greek

In Brief

Greek deponent verbs have endings associated with the mediopassive voice, usually -μαι in the dictionary form, but their meaning is not normally passive: έρχομαι means “I come,” not “I am come.” Learn each one as an ordinary verb together with its present and past forms; do not try to turn every English active verb into an -μαι verb.

Overview

A deponent verb is a verb that lacks a normal active-voice set of forms for its usual meaning and instead uses forms traditionally called passive or mediopassive. “Voice” means the way a verb presents the relationship between an action and the people or things involved. In Modern Greek, the label mediopassive is often more accurate than simply “passive,” because these endings cover passive meanings, reflexive meanings, and the ordinary active meanings of deponent verbs.

This pattern appears in some of the most useful everyday Greek verbs: έρχομαι “come,” κοιμάμαι “sleep,” φοβάμαι “fear/be afraid,” σκέφτομαι “think,” and θυμάμαι “remember.” An English speaker cannot reliably predict this form from the translation. English says “I remember” with an ordinary active verb, while Greek says θυμάμαι with an -μαι form. The form is grammatical; it does not make the person remembering the receiver of an action.

At A2, the practical goal is straightforward: recognize the main present-tense patterns, give the verb the same complements that its meaning requires, and memorize its most useful past or future stem. Later, when you study the Greek passive voice in detail, you will learn why the same endings can do several different jobs.

How It Works

Start from the dictionary form

Greek dictionaries normally list verbs in the first-person singular present: γράφω “I write,” έρχομαι “I come,” σκέφτομαι “I think.” The ending -μαι is therefore a useful signal that a verb belongs to a mediopassive conjugation pattern. It is not, by itself, a translation of English “am” or “myself.”

Compare these three uses of similar endings:

Greek	Literal grammatical role	Natural English meaning
Το γράμμα γράφεται.	genuinely passive	The letter is being written.
Το παιδί ντύνεται.	reflexive: the subject acts on itself	The child gets dressed.
Η Μαρία σκέφτεται.	deponent: ordinary lexical meaning	Maria is thinking.

The ending alone does not tell you the complete meaning. The verb, its subject, and the context do.

Two common present-tense patterns

Many frequent deponent verbs follow one of two broad present patterns. The subject is the person or thing that performs, experiences, or is described by the verb. Greek often leaves the subject pronoun unstated because the ending already identifies the person.

Pattern 1: σκέφτομαι and έρχομαι

Person	σκέφτομαι — think	έρχομαι — come
εγώ	σκέφτομαι	έρχομαι
εσύ	σκέφτεσαι	έρχεσαι
αυτός / αυτή / αυτό	σκέφτεται	έρχεται
εμείς	σκεφτόμαστε	ερχόμαστε
εσείς	σκέφτεστε	έρχεστε
αυτοί / αυτές / αυτά	σκέφτονται	έρχονται

This pattern has the recurring endings -μαι, -σαι, -ται, -μαστε, -στε, -νται, although the stem and stress can change. Notice σκέφτομαι but σκεφτόμαστε.

Pattern 2: κοιμάμαι, φοβάμαι, and θυμάμαι

Person	κοιμάμαι — sleep	φοβάμαι — fear	θυμάμαι — remember
εγώ	κοιμάμαι	φοβάμαι	θυμάμαι
εσύ	κοιμάσαι	φοβάσαι	θυμάσαι
αυτός / αυτή / αυτό	κοιμάται	φοβάται	θυμάται
εμείς	κοιμόμαστε	φοβόμαστε	θυμόμαστε
εσείς	κοιμάστε	φοβάστε	θυμάστε
αυτοί / αυτές / αυτά	κοιμούνται	φοβούνται	θυμούνται

Here the plural introduces forms such as -όμαστε and -ούνται. Stress is part of the form, so learn κοιμάμαι—κοιμόμαστε—κοιμούνται as a set rather than adding endings mechanically.

Some verbs vary in everyday speech, and spelling resources may present a less common alternative form. For an A2 learner, the forms in the tables above are dependable models.

Active meaning and sentence structure

A deponent verb behaves according to its meaning. It may stand alone, take a direct object, or be followed by another phrase.

A direct object is the person or thing directly affected by the verb. In Greek it normally appears in the accusative case—the form used for a direct object. For example, φοβάμαι το σκοτάδι has το σκοτάδι as its direct object, and σκέφτομαι τις διακοπές has τις διακοπές.

Structure	Example	Meaning
verb alone	Κοιμάμαι.	I am sleeping.
verb + direct object	Θυμάμαι το όνομά του.	I remember his name.
verb + direct object	Φοβάται τα σκυλιά.	She is afraid of dogs.
verb + να clause	Σκέφτομαι να φύγω.	I am thinking of leaving.
verb + destination	Έρχονται στην Αθήνα.	They are coming to Athens.

English prepositions do not always carry over. English says “afraid of the dark,” but Greek normally uses a direct object: φοβάμαι το σκοτάδι, without a word corresponding to “of.” By contrast, σκέφτομαι can take a direct object for what you are considering and να plus a verb for a possible action.

Negatives and questions

Negation in the present is regular: put δεν before the verb.

• Δεν θυμάμαι. — I don’t remember.
• Δεν φοβόμαστε. — We aren’t afraid.
• Δεν έρχεται σήμερα. — He/She isn’t coming today.

Questions do not need an English-style auxiliary such as “do.” Use the normal Greek form and question intonation:

• Θυμάσαι τη διεύθυνση; — Do you remember the address?
• Έρχεστε μαζί μας; — Are you coming with us?
• Τι σκέφτεσαι; — What are you thinking?

Learn the past and future as a principal part

A principal part is a key form that helps you build other forms of a verb. With deponent verbs, the completed-action stem is often not predictable from the present. Memorize at least the present first person and the simple past first person together.

Present	Simple past	Simple future	Core meaning
έρχομαι	ήρθα	θα έρθω	come
κοιμάμαι	κοιμήθηκα	θα κοιμηθώ	sleep / go to sleep
φοβάμαι	φοβήθηκα	θα φοβηθώ	become afraid / be frightened
σκέφτομαι	σκέφτηκα	θα σκεφτώ	think / consider
θυμάμαι	θυμήθηκα	θα θυμηθώ	remember / recall

Several past forms contain -θηκα, which elsewhere is associated with passive forms. They still have active lexical meanings here: κοιμήθηκα means “I slept” or “I fell asleep,” not “I was slept.” Έρχομαι and σκέφτομαι show why memorization matters: their useful completed-action forms are ήρθα and σκέφτηκα.

The present stem can also describe an ongoing or repeated past action in the imperfect tense: ερχόμουν “I was coming/used to come,” κοιμόμουν “I was sleeping,” φοβόμουν “I was afraid,” σκεφτόμουν “I was thinking,” and θυμόμουν “I remembered/used to remember.”

Examples in Context

Greek	English	Note
Κοιμάμαι νωρίς.	I sleep early.	Habit in the present
Τα παιδιά κοιμούνται ήδη.	The children are already asleep.	Third-person plural
Σκέφτομαι τις διακοπές.	I’m thinking about the holidays.	Direct object in the accusative
Σκεφτόμαστε να αλλάξουμε σπίτι.	We’re thinking of moving house.	να clause for a possible action
Φοβάμαι το σκοτάδι.	I’m afraid of the dark.	No Greek equivalent of English “of”
Δεν φοβάται τα αεροπλάνα.	He/She isn’t afraid of planes.	Negative with δεν
Δεν θυμάμαι.	I don’t remember.	Complete, natural short answer
Θυμάσαι πού είναι το ξενοδοχείο;	Do you remember where the hotel is?	Question without “do”
Έρχομαι αμέσως.	I’m coming right away.	Present used for an action in progress
Οι φίλοι μας έρχονται αύριο.	Our friends are coming tomorrow.	Present used for an arranged future event
Χθες κοιμήθηκα οκτώ ώρες.	Yesterday I slept for eight hours.	Completed past event
Μόλις τον είδα, φοβήθηκα.	As soon as I saw him, I got scared.	Change into a state of fear
Το σκέφτηκα πολύ πριν απαντήσω.	I thought about it carefully before answering.	το means “it”
Τελικά θυμήθηκα το όνομά της.	I finally remembered her name.	Completed act of recalling
Όταν τηλεφώνησες, κοιμόμουν.	When you called, I was sleeping.	Ongoing past action

Common Mistakes

Translating the -μαι ending as “am” or “myself”

• Wrong interpretation: Σκέφτομαι = “I am thought” or “I think myself.”
• Right: Σκέφτομαι = “I think” or “I am thinking.”
• Why: The whole verb has an active lexical meaning. Translate the verb as a unit, not ending by ending.

Inventing an active form

• Wrong: σκέφτω τις διακοπές
• Right: σκέφτομαι τις διακοπές
• Why: Modern Greek uses σκέφτομαι for this meaning. Do not remove -μαι just because the English translation is active.

Using active present-tense endings

• Wrong: εσύ σκέφτεις, αυτοί φοβάνε
• Right: εσύ σκέφτεσαι, αυτοί φοβούνται
• Why: These verbs use their own mediopassive conjugation. Learn the singular and plural together.

Copying an English preposition

• Wrong: Φοβάμαι από το σκοτάδι.
• Right: Φοβάμαι το σκοτάδι.
• Why: In its ordinary meaning, φοβάμαι takes a direct object. English “afraid of” is not a model for Greek sentence structure.

Building the past mechanically

• Wrong: έρθηκα χθες; σκεφτήθηκα το πρόβλημα
• Right: ήρθα χθες; σκέφτηκα το πρόβλημα
• Why: The completed-action stems of common verbs are not fully predictable. Store έρχομαι—ήρθα and σκέφτομαι—σκέφτηκα as pairs.

Confusing a deponent verb with every passive-looking form

• Wrong assumption: Every verb ending in -μαι has an active meaning.
• Right approach: Check the verb and context: Το σπίτι χτίζεται means “The house is being built,” while Ο Γιάννης έρχεται means “Giannis is coming.”
• Why: The same endings serve passive, reflexive, and deponent uses.

Usage Notes

In ordinary conversation, these verbs are extremely frequent. Subject pronouns are normally omitted unless there is contrast: Θυμάμαι is the neutral “I remember,” while Εγώ θυμάμαι, εσύ όχι means “I remember; you don’t.”

English often uses a progressive form—“I’m thinking,” “they’re coming”—where Greek simply uses the present. Σκέφτομαι can therefore mean “I think” or “I’m thinking,” depending on context. Similarly, έρχονται αύριο naturally expresses a planned future event: “They’re coming tomorrow.”

There can be a difference between a continuing state and the start of that state. Φοβάμαι τα φίδια describes an existing fear: “I’m afraid of snakes.” In a past event, φοβήθηκα often means “I got scared” or “I became afraid.” Context, not a one-word English equivalent, determines the best translation.

Treat stress marks as essential spelling. Forms such as φοβάμαι, φοβόμαστε, and φοβούνται do not keep the stress in one fixed place. Reading them aloud as a short paradigm helps make the movement automatic.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master the full Greek voice system at A2, but you will meet an important distinction later: “deponent” describes a verb’s lexical behavior, whereas “passive” describes how a particular clause presents an event. The visible endings may match even though the meanings do not.

Some verbs also have both active and mediopassive forms with related but distinct meanings. For example, σταματώ can mean “I stop something” or “I stop,” while σταματιέμαι can mean “I am stopped” and appears in constructions where the stopping affects the subject. Other pairs express active versus reflexive or reciprocal meanings. You must therefore learn each verb’s actual uses rather than assume that changing -ω to -μαι creates one fixed English meaning.

Aspect adds another layer. Aspect is how a speaker views an action: as ongoing/repeated or as a single complete event. The contrast appears in future and να forms:

Ongoing or repeated	Single or complete	Typical contrast
θα σκέφτομαι	θα σκεφτώ	I will be thinking / I will think it over
να κοιμάμαι	να κοιμηθώ	to sleep regularly / to sleep or fall asleep once
να έρχομαι	να έρθω	to come repeatedly / to come on one occasion

Commands may use special forms worth learning individually: έλα! “come!”, σκέψου! “think!”, θυμήσου! “remember!”, and κοιμήσου! “go to sleep!” These forms reinforce the same lesson: a common deponent verb is best learned with several principal parts, not derived from its present form by guesswork.

Finally, grammatical terminology varies. Some descriptions call all these forms “passive,” while others use “middle-passive” or “mediopassive.” This difference in labels does not change the learner’s core rule: σκέφτομαι, φοβάμαι, and the other verbs in this article have ordinary active meanings despite their endings.

Practice Tips

1. Make three-part verb cards. Put the present, simple past, and translation together: έρχομαι—ήρθα—come, σκέφτομαι—σκέφτηκα—think. This prevents predictable-looking but incorrect past forms.
2. Rotate through people aloud. Practice one verb in all six persons, especially the plural: θυμάμαι, θυμάσαι, θυμάται, θυμόμαστε, θυμάστε, θυμούνται. Mark the stressed syllable with your voice.
3. Build mini-contrasts from real life. Say one present and one past sentence: Φοβάμαι τα σκυλιά / Χθες φοβήθηκα. Then turn the present into a negative or question. This links form, meaning, and context instead of training endings in isolation.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Present Tense (Group B: -ώ/-άω) — reviews person, number, and stress changes in common present-tense verbs.
• Related pattern: Reflexive Constructions — contrasts verbs with an active lexical meaning with actions that turn back on the subject.
• Later study: Passive Voice — develops the wider mediopassive system and genuinely passive clauses.