La classe començarà aviat, però la reunió acabarà tard.

The class will start soon, but the meeting will end late.

Breakdown of La classe començarà aviat, però la reunió acabarà tard.

• però: but
• aviat: soon
• tard: late
• la classe: the class
• començar: to start
• la reunió: the meeting
• acabar: to end

Questions & Answers about La classe començarà aviat, però la reunió acabarà tard.

Why is there no subject pronoun like it before començarà and acabarà?

Catalan often leaves out subject pronouns when the verb ending already shows who or what the subject is.

Here, començarà and acabarà are both third person singular future, so Catalan does not need to say it.

• La classe començarà aviat = The class will start soon
• La reunió acabarà tard = The meeting will end late

The noun itself (la classe, la reunió) makes the subject clear.

What does the ending -à mean in començarà and acabarà?

The ending -à here marks the future tense, third person singular.

So:

• començar = to start / to begin

• començarà = will start / will begin

• acabar = to finish / to end
• acabarà = will finish / will end

This is similar to English will + verb, but Catalan usually builds the future directly into the verb form.

Why do both nouns use la?

Because both classe and reunió are feminine singular nouns in Catalan.

So:

• la classe
• la reunió

Catalan nouns have grammatical gender, and the article must match the noun.

How do I know that classe and reunió are feminine?

You usually learn the gender together with the noun, which is why it is best to memorize vocabulary with the article:

• la classe
• la reunió

There are some patterns:

• Nouns ending in -ió are very often feminine, so la reunió fits a common pattern.
• classe is also feminine, though its ending does not make this as obvious to an English speaker.

So the safest habit is to learn the article + the noun together.

What is the difference between començar and acabar?

They are opposite ideas in this sentence:

• començar = to begin / to start
• acabar = to finish / to end

So:

• La classe començarà aviat = the class will begin soon
• La reunió acabarà tard = the meeting will finish late

What does però mean, and why is it used here?

Però means but.

It connects two contrasting ideas:

• the class will start soon
• the meeting will end late

So però introduces a contrast, just like English but.

Why does però have an accent?

The accent in però shows the stressed syllable and helps distinguish pronunciation.

It is pronounced roughly pe-RO.

In Catalan, written accents are important because they:

• show where the stress falls
• sometimes show vowel quality
• can distinguish similar-looking words

So the accent is not optional; it is part of the correct spelling.

What do aviat and tard mean exactly?

In this sentence:

• aviat = soon
• tard = late

So:

• començarà aviat = will start soon
• acabarà tard = will end late

A useful point:

• aviat usually means soon
• tard can mean late

These are adverbs here, because they describe when the action happens.

Why do aviat and tard come after the verb?

That is a very natural word order in Catalan. Adverbs of time often come after the verb:

• començarà aviat
• acabarà tard

This is similar to English in many cases:

• will start soon
• will end late

Catalan can sometimes move adverbs for emphasis, but the order in your sentence is completely normal and standard.

What is the pronunciation of començarà? And what does the ç sound like?

In començarà, the ç is pronounced like an s sound.

So començarà sounds roughly like ko-men-sa-RA.

Important point:

• ç in Catalan represents an s sound before a, o, u
• without the cedilla, c before a, o, u would normally sound like k

So començarà has an s sound in the middle, not a k sound.

Why does reunió have an accent?

The accent in reunió shows that the stress falls on the final syllable:

• re-u-ni-Ó

It is an important part of the spelling and pronunciation.

Also, many Catalan nouns ending in -ió are stressed on that final syllable and are feminine:

• la reunió
• la nació
• la decisió

Does classe mean classroom or class here?

Here classe means class in the sense of a lesson or teaching session.

Depending on context, classe can refer to:

• a class session
• a school class or group

If you specifically mean the physical room, Catalan more often uses aula.

So in this sentence, la classe començarà aviat is understood as the class/lesson will start soon.

Could I also say La reunió començarà tard or La classe acabarà aviat?

Yes. Grammatically, those are perfectly correct.

You can combine the same nouns, verbs, and time adverbs in other ways:

• La reunió començarà tard = The meeting will start late
• La classe acabarà aviat = The class will end soon

The original sentence is just one possible combination.

Is this sentence in the present tense or future tense?

It is in the future tense.

The key clues are the verb forms:

• començarà = will start
• acabarà = will end

If it were present tense, you would have different forms, such as:

• La classe comença aviat
• La reunió acaba tard

Those can sometimes refer to scheduled future events too, but your sentence specifically uses the true future forms.

Can Catalan use the future tense the same way English uses will?

Yes, very often.

In this sentence, Catalan uses the simple future:

• començarà
• acabarà

This corresponds closely to English will start and will end.

Catalan also sometimes uses the present tense for planned or scheduled future events, especially in everyday speech, but the future tense here is completely natural and clear.