Learn Hardcore Greek: Όποτε έρχεται η χορτοφάγος φίλη μου, φτιάχνω υγιεινή σαλάτα χωρίς κρέας. - Whenever my vegetarian friend comes, I make a healthy salad without meat.

όποτε means whenever / any time that. It clearly suggests a repeated or open‑ended situation:
- Όποτε έρχεται... = Whenever she comes (every time she happens to come)...
όταν is more neutral when. It can refer to:
- a specific time: Όταν έρθει, θα φύγουμε. – When she comes, we’ll leave.
- or a general/habitual situation, like English when(ever):
  - Όταν έρχεται η φίλη μου, φτιάχνω σαλάτα.

In this sentence, όποτε makes the habitual/repeated idea very explicit. With όταν, the meaning would still be clear from context, but όποτε is the most natural if you want to stress “every time she comes”.

Why are the verbs έρχεται and φτιάχνω in the present tense if this describes a habit?

In Greek, the present tense (imperfective aspect) is used both for:

actions happening now
and regular / habitual actions

So:

Όποτε έρχεται η χορτοφάγος φίλη μου...
literally: Whenever my vegetarian friend comes... (i.e. every time she comes)
...φτιάχνω υγιεινή σαλάτα...
I make a healthy salad... (as a regular habit)

Greek doesn’t distinguish “I make” vs “I am making” the way English does. The same present form φτιάχνω covers both.

Could I say Όποτε έρθει η χορτοφάγος φίλη μου instead of Όποτε έρχεται? What’s the difference?

You may hear both, but there is a nuance:

Όποτε έρχεται η χορτοφάγος φίλη μου, φτιάχνω...
Uses present (έρχεται) → describes a general, ongoing habit in a neutral way.
Όποτε έρθει η χορτοφάγος φίλη μου, θα φτιάξω...
Here έρθει/έρθει (aorist subjunctive form: έρθει, from να έρθει) is more natural with a future main verb (often with θα). It focuses on each individual occurrence as a complete event, usually in a future context.

So in your sentence (a simple statement of a present habit), Όποτε έρχεται ... φτιάχνω... is the most straightforward. Όποτε έρθει... tends to sound more like “whenever she comes (in the future), I’ll make...”, especially if you add θα in the main clause.

Why is there a comma after η χορτοφάγος φίλη μου?

Greek normally uses a comma to separate a dependent clause that comes first from the main clause:

Όποτε έρχεται η χορτοφάγος φίλη μου, φτιάχνω υγιεινή σαλάτα χωρίς κρέας.

If you reverse the order, you usually don’t use a comma:

Φτιάχνω υγιεινή σαλάτα χωρίς κρέας όποτε έρχεται η χορτοφάγος φίλη μου.

So the comma is there because the sentence starts with the όποτε‑clause.

In η χορτοφάγος φίλη μου, why does χορτοφάγος end in -ος if the friend is female? Shouldn’t it be χορτοφάγα?

χορτοφάγος is one of those adjectives/nouns that use -ος for both masculine and feminine in the standard language:

ο χορτοφάγος – the vegetarian (male)
η χορτοφάγος – the vegetarian (female)

The article (ο / η) shows the gender, not the ending.

There is also a colloquial feminine form η χορτοφάγα, which you will hear in speech, but η χορτοφάγος is fully correct and more standard. In your sentence, η χορτοφάγος φίλη μου is perfectly natural.

Why is it η χορτοφάγος φίλη μου and not something like η φίλη μου χορτοφάγος?

This is about adjective position and normal noun phrase order in Greek.

Standard order for an adjective before the noun is:
article + adjective + noun (+ enclitic poss.)
→ η χορτοφάγος φίλη μου = my vegetarian friend (friend who is vegetarian)
If you say η φίλη μου η χορτοφάγος, that sounds like:
- my friend, the vegetarian – a bit more emphatic, almost like an apposition.
η φίλη μου χορτοφάγος (without the second article) would sound more like a predicate:
- Η φίλη μου είναι χορτοφάγος. – My friend is vegetarian.

So η χορτοφάγος φίλη μου is the normal way to say my vegetarian friend as one tight noun phrase.

Why is μου placed after φίλη (as in φίλη μου) and not before, like English my friend?

The short possessive pronouns μου, σου, του, της, μας, σας, τους are enclitics in Greek: they normally come after the noun they modify:

η φίλη μου – my friend
το σπίτι μας – our house
ο αδερφός σου – your brother

A typical pattern is:

article + (adjectives) + noun + possessive enclitic
- η χορτοφάγος φίλη μου

If you want to emphasise the possession, you can use the stressed form:

η δική μου φίλη – my friend (as opposed to someone else’s)

But the neutral, everyday form is with μου after the noun.

Why is there no μια in φτιάχνω υγιεινή σαλάτα? Could I say φτιάχνω μια υγιεινή σαλάτα?

Both are possible, but there is a nuance:

φτιάχνω υγιεινή σαλάτα
No article → very common in Greek for an indefinite, non‑specific object, especially with food, professions, materials, etc.
It means I make (some) healthy salad / I make healthy salad in general.
φτιάχνω μια υγιεινή σαλάτα
With μια → I make *a healthy salad (one salad, one serving, one instance).
This can sound a bit more like a *single, countable salad.

In a habitual sentence like yours, leaving out μια is very natural: it talks about what you typically prepare, not counting each salad as “one unit”.

What is the difference between υγιεινή and υγιής, and why is υγιεινή used with σαλάτα?

They are related but used differently:

υγιεινός, -ή, -ό = healthy, healthful (good for your health)
Used for food, habits, lifestyle, environment, etc.
- υγιεινή σαλάτα – healthy salad
- υγιεινή διατροφή – healthy diet
υγιής, -ής, -ές = healthy (in good health, not sick)
Used mainly for people, organisms, systems:
- Είναι υγιής. – He/She is healthy.
- υγιής οικονομία – healthy economy (figurative)

Since σαλάτα is food, the correct choice is υγιεινή σαλάτα, not υγιής σαλάτα.

Why is υγιεινή in the feminine form?

Adjectives in Greek must agree with the noun in:

gender
number
case

Here:

σαλάτα is feminine singular nominative (η σαλάτα).
The adjective υγιεινός has the feminine form υγιεινή.

So you get:

υγιεινή σαλάτα (feminine)
By comparison:
- υγιεινός χυμός – healthy juice (masc.)
- υγιεινό φαγητό – healthy food (neuter)

What case does χωρίς take, and why is it χωρίς κρέας and not χωρίς το κρέας?

χωρίς always takes the accusative case.

χωρίς κρέας – without meat (at all, in general)
κρέας is a neuter noun whose nominative and accusative singular are identical, so the form doesn’t change visibly.

No article (το) is used here because κρέας is treated as a mass noun, indefinite:

χωρίς κρέας = without any meat

If you said χωρίς το κρέας, it would mean without the meat (some specific meat already known from context), which is not what is meant in this general sentence.

Can I use κάνω instead of φτιάχνω for the salad? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say:

Όποτε έρχεται..., κάνω υγιεινή σαλάτα χωρίς κρέας.

Both φτιάχνω and κάνω are acceptable, but:

φτιάχνω = make, prepare, create
Slightly more concrete; often used with food, drinks, or things you assemble or build:
- φτιάχνω καφέ / σαλάτα / κέικ / ένα τραπέζι
κάνω = very general do / make
Works in many contexts, including food, but is broader and less specific.

In this sentence, φτιάχνω sounds a bit more like “prepare (the salad)”; κάνω is a bit more generic.

Could I change the word order in the main clause, like Υγιεινή σαλάτα χωρίς κρέας φτιάχνω? Is Greek word order flexible here?

Yes, Greek word order is fairly flexible compared to English.

Neutral/basic order here is:

φτιάχνω υγιεινή σαλάτα χωρίς κρέας
(verb – object – modifiers)

Other orders are grammatically possible but change the emphasis:

Υγιεινή σαλάτα χωρίς κρέας φτιάχνω.
Emphasis on what you make (the salad) rather than on the verb.
Χωρίς κρέας υγιεινή σαλάτα φτιάχνω.
Strong focus on χωρίς κρέας (that it’s meat‑free).

The original sentence is the most neutral and typical for stating a simple habit.

Can the subject come before the verb after όποτε, like Όποτε η χορτοφάγος φίλη μου έρχεται? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, you can say either:

Όποτε έρχεται η χορτοφάγος φίλη μου...
Όποτε η χορτοφάγος φίλη μου έρχεται...

Both are grammatically correct and mean whenever my vegetarian friend comes.

The version in your original sentence (Όποτε έρχεται η χορτοφάγος φίλη μου) is slightly more neutral. Putting the subject earlier (Όποτε η χορτοφάγος φίλη μου έρχεται) can give a tiny bit more focus on the subject, as if you are contrasting her with other possible visitors, but in everyday conversation the difference is very small.