Past Tenses, Future & Aspect

Αόριστος: έγραψα

Aorist (simple past): I wrote

EH-ghrah-psah

Describes a completed action in the past

Παρατατικός: έγραφα

Imperfect (past continuous/habitual): I was writing

EH-ghrah-fah

Describes an ongoing or repeated past action

Αόριστος vs παρατατικός

Aorist vs imperfect: completed vs ongoing

Choice depends on whether the action is viewed as whole or unfolding

Μέλλοντας: θα γράψω

Future: I will write

thah GHRAH-psoh

θα + perfective verb form = simple future

θα γράφω vs θα γράψω

future continuous vs future simple

θα+imperfective = ongoing future; θα+perfective = one-off future

ήμουν, ήσουν, ήταν

I was, you were, he/she/it was

EE-moon, EE-soon, EE-tan

Irregular past tense of είμαι (to be)

είχα, είχες, είχε

I had, you had, he/she had

EE-khah, EE-khes, EE-kheh

Past tense of έχω (to have)

Αόριστος του γράφω: έγραψα, έγραψες, έγραψε

Aorist of "to write"

EH-ghrah-psah, EH-ghrah-pses, EH-ghrah-pseh

Full singular pattern of a regular aorist

Αύξηση: πρόθεμα έ-

Augment: the έ- prefix in past tenses

eh-

έγραψα, έφαγα — many past-tense verbs add this prefix

Ανώμαλοι αόριστοι: είδα, πήγα, έφαγα

Common irregular aorists: saw, went, ate

EE-dhah, PEE-ghah, EH-fah-ghah

High-frequency verbs with unpredictable aorist stems