Passive Aorist in Greek

In Brief

The Greek passive aorist presents a completed past event in which the subject receives an action or undergoes a change: Το σπίτι χτίστηκε means “The house was built.” A common set of endings is -θηκα, -θηκες, -θηκε, -θήκαμε, -θήκατε, -θηκαν, but many frequent verbs use related stems in -τηκ-, -στηκ-, or another irregular form. Unlike English, Greek expresses this meaning with one conjugated verb, not with “was/were + participle.”

Overview

The subject is the person or thing the sentence is about. In an active sentence, it normally performs the action: Ο εργάτης έχτισε το σπίτι (“The worker built the house”). In the corresponding passive sentence, the affected thing becomes the subject: Το σπίτι χτίστηκε (“The house was built”). The person who performed the action may be omitted or added later.

The word aorist refers to a past event viewed as a complete whole. The passive aorist therefore answers questions such as “What was completed?”, “What happened to it?”, or “What changed?” It contrasts with the passive imperfect, which presents an action as ongoing, repeated, or in progress. This combination of voice and past aspect is normally developed at B2, after the basic Greek passive/mediopassive system.

For an English-speaking learner, the compact form is an important difference. English needs two pieces in “was notified”; Greek uses one: ειδοποιήθηκα. Forming that word is not always fully predictable. The personal endings are regular enough, but the passive aorist stem (the part to which the endings attach) often changes. It is best to learn a new verb together with its main past forms rather than trying to derive every form from the present tense.

How It Works

The regular set of endings

The following paradigm uses ειδοποιώ (“notify”). Greek normally leaves out subject pronouns because the ending already identifies the person.

Person	Passive aorist	Meaning
εγώ	ειδοποιήθηκα	I was notified
εσύ	ειδοποιήθηκες	you were notified
αυτός / αυτή / αυτό	ειδοποιήθηκε	he / she / it was notified
εμείς	ειδοποιηθήκαμε	we were notified
εσείς	ειδοποιηθήκατε	you were notified
αυτοί / αυτές / αυτά	ειδοποιήθηκαν	they were notified

The recurring past-tense element is -θηκ-. Stress moves according to the ending: ειδοποιήθηκα but ειδοποιηθήκαμε. In informal speech, a third-person plural form in -θήκανε may also occur, as in ειδοποιηθήκανε. The standard form in neutral writing is ειδοποιήθηκαν.

The stem is the main learning task

Many verbs have a passive aorist in -θηκα, but sound changes and inherited stem patterns produce several surface forms. The labels below are recognition aids, not rules that can predict every verb.

Present form	Active aorist	Passive aorist	Typical meaning
ειδοποιώ	ειδοποίησα	ειδοποιήθηκα	I was notified
αγαπώ	αγάπησα	αγαπήθηκα	I was loved
γράφω	έγραψα	γράφτηκα	I was registered / it was written
χτίζω	έχτισα	χτίστηκα	I/it was built
ετοιμάζω	ετοίμασα	ετοιμάστηκα	I/it was prepared; I got ready
κλείνω	έκλεισα	κλείστηκα	I was shut in / I shut myself in
καλώ	κάλεσα	κλήθηκα	I was called or summoned
συλλαμβάνω	συνέλαβα	συνελήφθηκα	I was arrested

Forms such as γράφτηκα and χτίστηκα are still passive aorists even though they do not visibly contain θ. Do not add -θηκα directly to a present stem: forms like γράφθηκα are not the normal modern forms. Record the passive aorist as a separate principal part: γράφω — έγραψα — γράφτηκα.

Not every verb has a common passive aorist, and not every form has a straightforward English passive translation. Meaning must be learned with the form. For example, ετοιμάστηκα usually means “I got ready,” while κοιμήθηκα means “I slept,” not “I was slept.” These belong to the broader Greek mediopassive system, where passive-looking forms can express a change of state, an action involving oneself, or a verb with no ordinary active counterpart.

Completed event versus ongoing process

The passive aorist and passive imperfect differ in aspect—the way the speaker presents the event in time.

View of the event	Greek	English
completed whole	Το βιβλίο γράφτηκε σε έξι μήνες.	The book was written in six months.
process in progress	Το βιβλίο γραφόταν εκείνη την εποχή.	The book was being written at that time.
single completed announcement	Η απόφαση ανακοινώθηκε χθες.	The decision was announced yesterday.
repeated procedure	Τα αποτελέσματα ανακοινώνονταν κάθε Παρασκευή.	The results were announced every Friday.

Time expressions do not choose the aspect by themselves. What matters is whether the event is presented as complete or as unfolding/repeated. Για δύο χρόνια (“for two years”), for example, can occur with an aorist if the whole two-year period is viewed as a completed unit.

Naming the agent with από

The agent is the person or organization that performs the action in a passive sentence. Greek commonly introduces a true agent with από plus the accusative case (the noun form used after this preposition):

• Το μυθιστόρημα γράφτηκε από τον Καζαντζάκη. — “The novel was written by Kazantzakis.”
• Η πρόταση εγκρίθηκε από την επιτροπή. — “The proposal was approved by the committee.”

With a pronoun, use forms such as από εμένα, από εσένα, and από αυτούς. An agent phrase is unnecessary when the doer is unknown, obvious, or unimportant. Greek often chooses the passive precisely to keep attention on the event or result.

An instrument is not the same as an agent. “With a key” is με ένα κλειδί, not an agent phrase with από: Η πόρτα ανοίχτηκε με ένα κλειδί (“The door was opened with a key”).

Negation and word order

A past factual form is normally negated with δεν:

• Δεν ενημερώθηκα εγκαίρως. — “I was not informed in time.”
• Η συνάντηση δεν ακυρώθηκε. — “The meeting was not cancelled.”

Greek word order is flexible, but the subject often comes before the verb in neutral prose. Putting the verb first can foreground the event, especially in announcements and reports: Ανακοινώθηκαν τα αποτελέσματα (“The results were announced”).

Examples in Context

Greek	English	Note
Το σπίτι χτίστηκε πριν από εκατό χρόνια.	The house was built one hundred years ago.	Completed construction; πριν από is the full time expression.
Το μυθιστόρημα γράφτηκε από τον Καζαντζάκη.	The novel was written by Kazantzakis.	The agent is expressed with από.
Ειδοποιήθηκα αμέσως για την αλλαγή.	I was notified immediately about the change.	First-person singular in -θηκα.
Η αίτησή σας εγκρίθηκε χθες.	Your application was approved yesterday.	Common formal and administrative use.
Τα αποτελέσματα ανακοινώθηκαν το πρωί.	The results were announced in the morning.	Third-person plural.
Ο δρόμος έκλεισε λόγω της κακοκαιρίας.	The road closed because of the bad weather.	Greek naturally uses an active intransitive form here.
Η πόρτα κλείστηκε από μέσα.	The door was locked from the inside.	Passive form with a resulting state.
Γράφτηκα σε μαθήματα ελληνικών.	I signed up for Greek classes.	Mediopassive meaning, not a literal English passive.
Ετοιμαστήκαμε σε δέκα λεπτά.	We got ready in ten minutes.	Completed change/action involving the subject.
Η εκδήλωση ακυρώθηκε την τελευταία στιγμή.	The event was cancelled at the last moment.	The agent is irrelevant and omitted.
Δεν μας δόθηκαν σαφείς οδηγίες.	We were not given clear instructions.	Literally, “clear instructions were not given to us.”
Πότε ιδρύθηκε το πανεπιστήμιο;	When was the university founded?	A common historical question.
Ο ύποπτος συνελήφθη στο αεροδρόμιο.	The suspect was arrested at the airport.	Formal irregular stem.
Η κυκλοφορία σταμάτησε για δύο ώρες.	Traffic stopped for two hours.	Natural Greek may use an active verb where English permits a passive.

Common Mistakes

Building the form mechanically from the present

• Wrong: Το γράμμα γράφηθηκε χθες.
• Right: Το γράμμα γράφτηκε χθες.
• Why: Γράφω uses the passive aorist stem γραφτ- before the endings. Learn the full form rather than simply attaching a -θηκα pattern to the present stem.

Adding the past augment ε-

• Wrong: Το σπίτι εχτίστηκε το 1920.
• Right: Το σπίτι χτίστηκε το 1920.
• Why: The passive aorist forms taught here normally do not take the active-aorist augment ε- at the front. Compare active έχτισε with passive χτίστηκε.

Using the aorist for an ongoing process

• Wrong: Το σπίτι χτίστηκε όταν πέρασα από εκεί. (if construction was still in progress)
• Right: Το σπίτι χτιζόταν όταν πέρασα από εκεί.
• Why: Use the passive imperfect when you mean “was being built.” The aorist χτίστηκε presents the construction as completed.

Translating every English passive literally

• Awkward: Η κυκλοφορία σταματήθηκε για δύο ώρες.
• Natural: Η κυκλοφορία σταμάτησε για δύο ώρες.
• Why: Greek often uses an active intransitive verb for an event that English may phrase passively. Choose the natural Greek verb pattern, not the English sentence frame.

Using the wrong preposition for the agent

• Wrong: Το βιβλίο γράφτηκε με τον Καζαντζάκη.
• Right: Το βιβλίο γράφτηκε από τον Καζαντζάκη.
• Why: A person who performs the action is normally introduced with από. Use με for means, accompaniment, or an instrument, depending on context.

Assuming every mediopassive form has a passive meaning

• Wrong interpretation: Γράφτηκα στο πανεπιστήμιο = “I was written at the university.”
• Right interpretation: “I enrolled at the university.”
• Why: Greek mediopassive forms cover more than English passives. Some express an action the subject undertakes for themselves, a change of state, or a fixed dictionary meaning.

Usage Notes

The passive aorist is especially frequent in news reports, official notices, academic writing, history, and biographies because these registers often foreground facts and results: Ο νόμος ψηφίστηκε το 2024 (“The law was passed in 2024”). It is not limited to formal language, however. Forms such as γεννήθηκα (“I was born”), κουράστηκα (“I got tired”), θυμήθηκα (“I remembered”), and γράφηκα/γράφτηκα (“I enrolled”) are ordinary conversational Greek.

English uses the passive freely to preserve a preferred subject: “I was given a form.” Greek may instead arrange the participants differently: Μου έδωσαν ένα έντυπο (“They gave me a form”) or Μου δόθηκε ένα έντυπο (literally, “A form was given to me”). The impersonal third-person plural—an unexpressed “they”—is very common when the doer does not matter. A natural translation is therefore not always structurally identical.

Some verbs show alternative forms or variation between learned, formal vocabulary and everyday usage. For instance, compounds and administrative verbs often preserve recognizable -θηκ- forms, while older irregular stems such as κλήθηκα and συνελήφθηκα are common in formal contexts. Treat a good dictionary’s aorist forms as authoritative. Productive guessing is useful for recognition, but less safe for writing or speaking.

The phrase supplied in the concept examples, Σταμάτησε η κυκλοφορία, is grammatically active: σταμάτησε can mean “stopped/came to a stop.” English may translate it as “Traffic was stopped” when context suggests an external cause, but Greek itself does not mark that sentence as passive. This is a useful reminder that voice and translation are not one-to-one.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

The same stem outside the past indicative

Once you know the passive aorist stem, you can recognize the perfective non-past forms used after particles such as να and θα. “Perfective” means the event is viewed as a bounded whole. These forms are not past merely because they share the aorist stem:

Function	Greek	English
completed past	γράφτηκε	it was written
desired/possible complete event	να γραφτεί	for it to be written / that it be written
future complete event	θα γραφτεί	it will be written
negative instruction	να μη γραφτεί	it must not be written

The endings change: compare past γράφτηκα, γράφτηκες, γράφτηκε with να γραφτώ, να γραφτείς, να γραφτεί. Greek has no everyday infinitive corresponding directly to English “to be written”; clauses with να often do that work.

Passive aorist and the perfect

The perfect uses έχω plus a non-finite passive form in -τεί to connect a completed event with the present:

• Η αναφορά γράφτηκε χθες. — “The report was written yesterday.” The sentence locates a completed past event.
• Η αναφορά έχει γραφτεί. — “The report has been written.” The completed result matters now.

Do not confuse έχει γραφτεί with γράφτηκε. English sometimes allows either translation in similar situations, but Greek keeps the aspectual distinction available.

Passive form, middle meaning, or lexical meaning

Traditional Greek grammar groups passive and “middle” uses under παθητική φωνή because they share endings. Semantically, however, several relationships are possible:

• True passive: Η απόφαση ανακοινώθηκε. — someone announced the decision.
• Action affecting or involving oneself: Ετοιμάστηκα. — “I got ready.”
• Change of state: Κουράστηκα. — “I became tired.”
• Lexical/deponent meaning: Θυμήθηκα το όνομά του. — “I remembered his name.” There is no passive meaning in the English sense.

Context and the verb’s dictionary meaning decide the interpretation. Asking “Who did this to the subject?” helps identify a true passive, but it will not work for every mediopassive verb.

Choosing a more natural information structure

A passive is most useful when the affected participant is already the topic, while the agent is unknown or secondary. If the agent is the important new information, an active sentence may sound clearer:

• Το έργο ολοκληρώθηκε το 2025. — focus on the project and its completion.
• Η ομάδα ολοκλήρωσε το έργο το 2025. — focus on what the team accomplished.

This is a stylistic choice, not merely a conjugation exercise. Advanced control means noticing what the sentence is about and selecting active, passive, or impersonal wording accordingly.

Practice Tips

1. Learn three forms together. For each useful verb, make a three-part card: present, active aorist, passive aorist—such as γράφω — έγραψα — γράφτηκα. Add a short meaning because the mediopassive form may not translate literally.
2. Transform complete sentences. Start with Η επιτροπή ενέκρινε την πρόταση and produce Η πρόταση εγκρίθηκε από την επιτροπή. Then remove the agent and decide whether the sentence still communicates what matters.
3. Sort examples by viewpoint. While reading news or listening to Greek, collect passive imperfect and passive aorist forms, especially endings such as -όταν versus -θηκε/-τηκε. Label them “process/repetition” or “completed event.” This builds the aorist–imperfect contrast along with form recognition.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Passive Voice — introduces Greek mediopassive endings and the range of passive, middle, and deponent meanings.