Learn Hardcore Greek: Θα έρθω νωρίς, αλλά αυτή θα έρθει αργά. - I will come early, but she will come late.

They are the simple future (also called “future aorist”): punctual, one-off actions in the future. Greek forms it with θα + aorist (subjunctive) form of the verb:

1st person singular: θα έρθω (I will come)
3rd person singular: θα έρθει (she/he/it will come)

Why does the stem change from έρχομαι to έρθ- in έρθω/έρθει?

Έρχομαι is irregular. It has different stems in different tenses:

Present: έρχομαι (I come)
Simple future: θα έρθω
Simple past: ήρθα So in the simple future and simple past the stem is -ρθ- (έρθ-/ήρθ-).

What’s the difference between θα έρθω and θα έρχομαι?

Θα έρθω = I will come (once, at some point). Punctual.
Θα έρχομαι = I will be coming / I will come regularly. Ongoing or habitual.

Do I have to keep the pronoun αυτή? Could I drop it?

You can drop it: Θα έρθω νωρίς, αλλά θα έρθει αργά. Greek usually omits subject pronouns. Keeping αυτή adds emphasis or contrast: “but SHE will come late.”

Does αυτή mean “she” or “this (one)”? How do I say “this woman”?

Alone, αυτή is the stressed personal pronoun “she.” As a demonstrative before a noun, it’s “this”: αυτή η γυναίκα = “this woman.” In your sentence it’s clearly “she” (contrastive).

Why is there a comma before αλλά? Is it required?

Yes. Greek normally uses a comma before αλλά (“but”) to separate the two clauses, just like English.

Could I use μα or όμως instead of αλλά?

μα = “but,” more colloquial/emphatic.
όμως = “however,” can be clause-initial or medial and is a bit more formal/stylistic. All are fine, with slight tone differences: Θα έρθω νωρίς, μα αυτή θα έρθει αργά. / Θα έρθω νωρίς· όμως, αυτή θα έρθει αργά.

How do I pronounce the tricky parts: έρθω, έρθει, νωρίς, αργά?

έρθω ≈ ER-tho (θ like English “th” in “thin”).
έρθει ≈ ER-thi (same θ; final -ει sounds like “ee”).
νωρίς ≈ no-REES (stress on -ρίς).
αργά ≈ ar-GA (γ before α is a voiced velar fricative, like a soft “gh”; stress on -γά). Roll/flip the ρ lightly.

Why is έρθει spelled with ει when it sounds like “i”? How do I tell it from έρθω?

Greek has several spellings for the “i” sound (ι, η, υ, ει, οι). Morphology distinguishes persons:

1st sg: typically ends in -ω → έρθω
3rd sg: often ends in -ει → έρθει So the spelling signals person/ending, even if they sound alike.

Is there a contracted form in speech, like dropping the initial vowel of έρθω?

Yes, very common:

Θα ’ρθω (for θα έρθω)
Θα ’ρθει (for θα έρθει) The apostrophe shows the elision of the initial vowel of the verb.

Does νωρίς mean “soon”?

No. νωρίς = “early” (sooner than expected/scheduled). σύντομα or σε λίγο = “soon.” Example: Θα έρθω νωρίς (I’ll come early) vs Θα έρθω σύντομα (I’ll come soon).

Can αργά mean “slowly,” or only “late”?

Primarily αργά means “late” in time: ήρθε αργά (he came late). It can mean “slowly” in some contexts (from αργός = slow), but in modern everyday speech σιγά is the usual word for “slowly.”

Is the word order fixed, or can I move things around?

Greek word order is flexible. You can front adverbs or the emphasized pronoun:

Νωρίς θα έρθω, αλλά αυτή θα έρθει αργά.
Θα έρθω νωρίς, αλλά θα έρθει αυτή αργά. Changes mainly affect emphasis, not core meaning.

Would it be more natural to say Θα αργήσει instead of θα έρθει αργά?

Both are fine. Θα αργήσει = “She’ll be late” (focus on tardiness). Θα έρθει αργά = “She’ll come late” (focus on the time of arrival). In many contexts, Θα αργήσει is a bit more idiomatic.

How do I make it negative?

Use δεν/δε before θα:

Δεν θα έρθω νωρίς or colloquially Δε θα έρθω νωρίς.
Αυτή δεν θα έρθει αργά. The final -ν of δεν is often dropped before many consonants (so δε θα is common), but kept before vowels and certain consonants.

Is θα έλθω / θα έλθει acceptable?

Yes, but it’s more formal/literary. In everyday Modern Greek, θα έρθω / θα έρθει is standard.

What’s the past version of this sentence?

Use the simple past (aorist) of έρχομαι:

Ήρθα νωρίς, αλλά αυτή ήρθε αργά.

Where does the stress fall in these words?

έΡθω, έΡθει: stress on the first syllable.
νωΡΊς, αργΆ: stress on the last syllable. Keeping the written accent in Greek shows this.