The Mediopassive Voice - the Whole System
Greek verbs come in TWO voices. The active ends in -ω (γράφω); the MEDIOPASSIVE ends in -ομαι / -άμαι (πλένομαι, κοιμάμαι). One set of endings does three jobs: PASSIVE (“I am washed”), REFLEXIVE - the action turned back on the subject (πλένομαι “I wash myself”), and DEPONENT - verbs that live only in the mediopassive yet mean something active (έρχομαι “I come”, φαίνομαι “I seem”). You met a handful in Module 6; here you learn to CONJUGATE the voice in full - present, imperfect, and aorist - across a wide range of everyday verbs. The ending is always the signal: if a verb ends in -ομαι or -άμαι, it is mediopassive.
The rule
Greek verbs come in two voices. The active ends in -ω and its subject does the action (γράφω, πλένω). The mediopassive ends in *-ομαι / -άμαι and does three jobs with one set of endings: passive (the subject receives the action), reflexive (the action turns back on the subject - πλένομαι “I wash myself”), and deponent (a verb that exists only in the mediopassive yet means something active - έρχομαι “I come”, φαίνομαι “I seem”). Module 9 conjugates the voice in full - present, imperfect, and aorist - across a breadth of verbs. The ending is always the flag: -ομαι / -άμαι* means you are in this voice.
Paradigm
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | χάνομαι† | χανόμαστε† |
| 2nd | χάνεσαι† | χάνεστε† |
| 3rd | χάνεται† | χάνονται† |
- Mediopassive of the active χάνω ("I lose"): χάνομαι = "I get lost / go missing".
- 1pl -όμαστε; stress on the ending.
- -ομαι type 2sg: -εσαι.
- -ομαι type 2pl: -εστε.
- -ομαι type 3sg: -εται.
- -ομαι type 3pl: -ονται.