In short

Lesson 52 gave you the perfective side of the mediopassive: the one-off event (κοιμήθηκα, σηκώθηκα). This lesson closes the system with the two remaining shapes.

First, the mediopassive imperfect — the past that is still running: ερχόμουν “I was coming / I used to come”, καθόμουν “I was sitting”, γινόταν “it was happening”. Its endings are a family of their own: -όμουν, -όσουν, -όταν, -όμασταν, -όσασταν, -ονταν, and the stress jumps onto the ending in five persons out of six.

Second, the compound (συντελεσμένοι) tenses, built exactly like the active ones in lesson 44 — έχω / είχα / θα έχω plus a fixed form — except that the fixed form here comes from lesson 52’s -θηκ-/-τηκ- stem and ends in -εί: έχω κοιμηθεί, είχα σηκωθεί, θα έχω πλυθεί. That -εί form never changes: not for person, not for number, not for gender.

The rule

1. The imperfect endings. Take the mediopassive present stem — the same one you use for έρχομαι, κάθομαι, γίνομαι — and add:

-όμουν · -όσουν · -όταν · -όμασταν · -όσασταν · -ονταν

Five of these are stressed on the ending itself (-όμουν, -όσουν, -όταν, -όμασταν, -όσασταν). The sixth, the 3rd person plural -ονταν, is not: the stress stays back on the stem, exactly where the present has it. That is why 3sg and 3pl look so different even though they are one letter apart in meaning:

• καθόταν “he was sitting” — stress on the ending
• κάθονταν “they were sitting” — stress on the stem

2. The two contracted classes behave the same way, with their own linking vowel. The -ιέμαι class (αγαπιέμαι) inserts -ι-: αγαπιόμουν. The -άμαι class (θυμάμαι, κοιμάμαι, φοβάμαι) uses the plain -ό- endings: θυμόμουν, κοιμόμουν, φοβόμουν. Only the 3rd person plural of these two classes wobbles in real usage (see the note under the table).

3. The compound tenses. Build the non-finite form mechanically: take the mediopassive aorist 1st person singular, drop -ηκα, add -εί.

κοιμήθηκα → κοιμηθ- → κοιμηθεί · σηκώθηκα → σηκωθεί · πλύθηκα → πλυθεί · σκέφτηκα → σκεφτεί · εργάστηκα → εργαστεί

This form is always stressed on that final -εί, and it is invariable. (Greek school grammar calls it the απαρέμφατο, but it is nothing like an ancient infinitive: it cannot stand alone, it takes no article, and it appears only after έχω.) Then:

• Perfect (παρακείμενος): έχω + -εί — έχω κοιμηθεί “I have slept / I have gone to sleep”
• Pluperfect (υπερσυντέλικος): είχα + -εί — είχα σηκωθεί “I had got up”
• Future perfect (συντελεσμένος μέλλοντας): θα έχω + -εί — θα έχω πλυθεί “I will have washed”

The auxiliary is always έχω, never είμαι. Person and number live in the auxiliary alone.

4. Two contrasts to keep straight.

Imperfect against mediopassive aorist — the same distinction you learned in lesson 43, now in this voice. ετοιμαζόμουν draws out the process; ετοιμάστηκα reports it finished. Η Άννα ντυνόταν ακόμα όταν φτάσαμε (unfolding) against Η Άννα ντύθηκε γρήγορα και βγήκε (a single event).

Event against state — έχω πλυθεί says an act took place and still counts; είμαι πλυμένος (lesson 50) describes how I currently am. Το πουκάμισο έχει σιδερωθεί tells you someone ironed it; το πουκάμισο είναι σιδερωμένο tells you it is ready to wear.

5. A few common verbs skip the -θεί/-τεί shape because their perfective stem is not built with -θηκ-/-τηκ-: έρχομαι → ήρθα → έχω έρθει, γίνομαι → έγινα → έχω γίνει, κάθομαι → κάθισα → έχω καθίσει. Their imperfect is perfectly regular (ερχόμουν, γινόμουν, καθόμουν); only the compound form follows the active pattern.

Forms & patterns

The imperfect endings

The -ομαι class

The -ιέμαι class and the -άμαι class

In these two classes the 3rd person plural has no single settled form: αγαπιούνταν, κοιμούνταν and the longer κοιμόντουσαν, αγαπιόντουσαν are all current in speech. The forms in the table are the safest in writing. Note that here the stress cannot retract — the syllable -ιό-/-ό- is already stressed — so 3sg and 3pl differ only in the ending.

Present against imperfect: one letter apart in the plural

The compound tenses: έχω κοιμηθεί

Building the -εί form from the aorist

Examples

Common mistakes

• Τα παιδιά καθόταν στην αυλή. -> Τα παιδιά κάθονταν στην αυλή. 3sg is -όταν, 3pl is -ονταν; a plural subject takes the stem-stressed form.
• Ο Νίκος κάθονταν μόνος του. -> Ο Νίκος καθόταν μόνος του. The mirror error: a singular subject cannot take the 3pl ending.
• Ερχόμουνα κάθε Σάββατο. -> Ερχόμουν κάθε Σάββατο. The extra -α tail (-όμουνα, -όσουνα) is colloquial speech; keep the bare -όμουν, -όσουν in writing.
• Ήμουν κοιμηθεί όταν γύρισες. -> Είχα κοιμηθεί όταν γύρισες. The compound tenses take έχω, never είμαι — είμαι goes only with the participle in -μένος.
• Έχουμε ετοιμαστείτε όλοι μας. -> Έχουμε ετοιμαστεί όλοι μας. The -εί form is invariable; the auxiliary already carries the person.
• Χθες κάθομουν στο μπαλκόνι. -> Χθες καθόμουν στο μπαλκόνι. The imperfect pulls the stress onto the ending; only the present keeps it on the stem (κάθομαι).
• Ερχομάσταν μαζί. -> Ερχόμασταν μαζί. The accent sits on -ό-, not on -μα-.
• Το γράμμα έχει γραμμένο. -> Το γράμμα έχει γραφτεί / είναι γραμμένο. Pick one system: έχω + -εί for the event, είμαι + -μένος for the state.
• Έχω ερχθεί τρεις φορές. -> Έχω έρθει τρεις φορές. έρχομαι has no -θεί form; its perfective stem is ήρθ- (with the variant ήλθ-: ήλθα, έχω έλθει).
• Δεν σε έχω σκεφτεί χθες. -> Δεν σε σκέφτηκα χθες. With a closed past time expression (χθες, πέρυσι) use the aorist, not the perfect.

Tips

• Learn the six endings as one chant — -όμουν, -όσουν, -όταν, -όμασταν, -όσασταν, -ονταν — and note that the last one is the odd member: it drops the stress back, the way the present does.
• The plural pair is the trap that costs marks: present ερχόμαστε / έρχονται against imperfect ερχόμασταν / έρχονταν. Every imperfect form ends in -ν; say them aloud together until that -ν feels like “past”.
• To build any compound form, do not think about rules — say the aorist, chop off -ηκα, add -εί. κουράστηκα → κουραστεί → έχω κουραστεί. It works for every regular mediopassive verb.
• Ask yourself “act or condition?” before choosing. If the answer is “something happened and it still matters”, use έχω + -εί; if it is “this is how it looks now”, use είμαι + -μένος.
• The pluperfect is the natural partner of the aorist in narration: είχα σηκωθεί, είχα ετοιμαστεί, και μετά βγήκα. Use it to push one event behind another.
• Deponents such as εργάζομαι, σκέφτομαι and θυμάμαι have mediopassive endings but active meaning, so their compound forms translate as ordinary actives: έχω σκεφτεί “I have thought”, not “I have been thought”.
• θα είχα + -εί (θα είχα ετοιμαστεί) is the counterfactual “I would have got ready” — the same building blocks, reused in the conditional.