CYPRIOT GRAMMAR

Chapter 27: The Passive: Present Tense – Παθητική Φωνή:
Ενεστώτας
27.1 The passive voice -μαι
Verbs in the passive simply imply that the action undertaken by the person is affecting only himself and corresponds to the English ‘to be +
past participle’ eg. to be eaten, to be beaten etc. This category contains a great number of verbs of Cypriot because some very important
verbs only have a passive form. It is very easy to spot which verbs belong to this category and be correct by noticing that all of these verbs
in the first person singular end in –μαι.
The main reason that this cateogory of verbs is possibly the largest it’s because the majority of verbs in the any of the active voice
categories can be converted into the passive, as long as they are viable in the passive by simply making sense. The rule is very simple. You
simply drop the omega in the first person singular and just add the passive endings as above according to the number and personal
pronoun. In addition the tone mark never changes its original position. Example:
Δέρνω -> δέρν + -ουμαι -> δέρνουμαι
(to beat -> to be beaten)
Παραρητώ -> παρατηρ + -ούμαι -> παρατηρούμαι
(to observe -| to be observed)
Summary of the Conversions per Category
-ώ -> ούμαι
-ύκω -> ύκουμαι
-ννω -> ννουμαι
-θω -> θουμαι
-ζω -> ζουμαι
-ρνω -> ρνουμαι
-ίσκω -> ίσκουμαι
-σσω -> σουμαι
-άρω -> άρουμαι
This is how they are conjugated.
ΕΝΝΙΚΟΣ________ ΠΛΥΧΗΝΝΤΙΚΟΣ
Greek___________English
Pers.Pr.__Verb____Pers.Pr.___Verb
Εγιώνι___-ουμαι__Εμείς___-ούμαστιν/ούμεθα*
Εσούνι__-εσαι__Εσείς___-εστε
Τούτος__-εται__Τούτοι__-ουνται
Τούτη___-εται__Τούτες__-ουνται
Τούτον__-εται__Τούτα__-ουνται
*formal
Φερειπείν
σκέφτουμαι = to think
ΕΝΝΙΚΟΣ___________ΠΛΥΧΗΝΝΤΙΚΟΣ
Greek______________English
Pers.Pr.___Verb______Pers.Pr.___Verb
Εγιώνι__σκέφτουμαι___Εμείς__σκεφτούμαστιν/ούμεθα
Εσούνι__σκέφτεσαι____Εσείς__σκέφτεστε
Τούτος__σκέφτεται___Τούτοι__σκέφτουνται
Τούτη___σκέφτεται___Τούτες__σκέφτουνται
Τούτον__σκέφτεται___Τούτα__σκέφτουνται
Φερειπείν
βελονιάζουμαι (to put needles in oneself), θκιαμοιράζουμαι (to divide oneself), ζυάζουμαι (to weigh oneself), μοιράζουμαι (to part oneself),
ξητιμάζουμαι (to curse at oneself), ξορτζ’άζουμαι (to remove dirt oneself), ξυππάζουμαι (to scare sb oneself), ποσπάζουμαι (to finish up
oneself), πυρκάζουμαι (to heat oneself), παραμερκάζουμαι (to set aside oneself), πατσ’άζουμαι (to slap/beat up oneself), ποθκιάζουμαι (to
bind oneself’s feet), σεβάζουμαι (to respect oneself), σ’επάζουμαι (to cover oneself), σ’άζουμαι (to slaughter oneself), σπλιντζ’άζουμαι (to
pin oneself), στιάζουμαι (to shelter oneself), στοιβάζουμαι (to pile oneself), σάζουμαι (to repair oneself), στρασ’υάζουμαι (to give oneself
hay), στρατουρκάζουμαι (to unsaddle an animal/to beat oneself), σοζυάζουμαι (to balance oneself), σπάζουμαι (to break oneself),
μεταχωλγιούμαι (to be sadden), εσπιάζουμαι (to suspect) κτλ.
Note
1. If the verb’s last consonant after the -ω is dropped is ‘π’ then the endings added are -κιούμαι, -κιοέσαι, -κιέται κτλ. Example:
Ααπώ -> ααπ + κιούμαι -> ααπκιούμαι
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