There is a large group of verbs that are listed in the lexicon as ending -έω rather than –ῶ. You will never actually see this form in a Greek text, as the combination of the vowel and the person endings result in some changes. Learn to recite the paradigm; it should sound something like this:
φιλῶ | φιλοῦμεν |
φιλεῖς | φιλεῖτε |
φιλεῖ | φιλοῦσιν |





A tip on looking up verbs in the dictionary, now that we have to bear in mind you might be looking for a contracted verb: if you spot the – εῖτε or –οῦμεν ending, this immediately tells you that you’re looking for a contracted verb. Eg
μισεῖτε - this has a you (plural) ending
Take off the -εῖτε person ending, so you now have μισ-
Restore the -έω first person uncontracted ending, so you now have μισεω
In the lexicon you will find: μισέω: I hate, despise
When you come across the other person endings, you now need to bear in mind that these could be from a contracted verb; so if you take off the person ending, restore -ῶ and still don’t find the verb, try restoring -έω.
A further clue to the contracted verbs : you will see a circumflex (~) over the vowels in the person endings for a contracted verb. Here’s the difference:
Uncontracted verb
λύω | λύομεν |
λύεις | λύετε |
λύει | λύουσιν |
Contracted verb
φιλῶ | φιλοῦμεν |
φιλεῖς | φιλεῖτε |
φιλεῖ | φιλοῦσιν |