Ανησυχώ μήπως αργήσει το λεωφορείο αύριο το πρωί.

tomorrow

Breakdown of Ανησυχώ μήπως αργήσει το λεωφορείο αύριο το πρωί.

• το πρωί: in the morning
• το λεωφορείο: the bus
• αργώ: to be late

Questions & Answers about Ανησυχώ μήπως αργήσει το λεωφορείο αύριο το πρωί.

What does μήπως mean in this sentence?

Here μήπως introduces something the speaker is worried might happen. After verbs like Ανησυχώ or Φοβάμαι, it often means that / in case / lest / maybe in a negative or unwanted sense.

So in this sentence, μήπως αργήσει το λεωφορείο means something like that the bus might be late.

This is different from μήπως in direct questions, where it can mean perhaps or suggest uncertainty, as in Μήπως ξέρεις; = Do you happen to know?

Why is the verb αργήσει and not αργεί?

Αργήσει is the form Greek uses here because the clause after μήπως refers to a possible future event.

• αργεί = present indicative, it is late / it is being late / it tends to be late
• αργήσει = aorist subjunctive form, it might be late / it may end up being late

After μήπως in a sentence of worry or fear, Greek normally uses the subjunctive-type form. Since this is about one possible event tomorrow morning, the aorist subjunctive αργήσει is the natural choice.

Is αργήσει a subjunctive form?