Mi colega llegó temprano.

In modern Spanish, possessives like mi, tu, su, nuestro usually go directly before the noun, without an article.

So you say:

• mi colega
• tu amigo
• su casa

Not:

• el mi colega ❌

English uses my colleague, and Spanish works similarly here.

Not always. Colega can mean colleague, but in Spain it is also very commonly used for mate, buddy, or friend in informal speech, depending on context.

So in this sentence, it could mean:

• a coworker
• a classmate/professional colleague
• even a friend, in some contexts

If the meaning shown to the learner is colleague, that is perfectly natural, but it is good to know the word can be broader in Spain.

Colega can refer to either a man or a woman. It is a common-gender noun, which means the form of the noun often stays the same and the article or other words around it show gender if needed.

For example:

• mi colega = could be male or female
• el colega = male colleague
• la colega = female colleague

In your sentence, mi does not show gender, so mi colega is ambiguous by itself. You would need context to know whether it is a man or a woman.

Llegó is the third-person singular preterite form of llegar.

That means it is used for:

• he arrived
• she arrived
• it arrived
• you arrived (formal singular, usted)

The preterite is used here because the arrival is seen as a completed action in the past.

So:

• llega = arrives / is arriving
• llegó = arrived

Spanish often omits subject pronouns because the verb ending already tells you who the subject is.

Here, llegó already tells you the subject is third-person singular, so Spanish usually does not need él or ella.

That is why:

• Mi colega llegó temprano. ✅

is more natural than:

• Mi colega él llegó temprano. ❌

You could say Él llegó temprano or Ella llegó temprano in other contexts, but here the subject mi colega is already stated.

The accent mark in llegó shows that the stress falls on the last syllable: lle-GÓ.

It also helps distinguish this past-tense form from other forms:

• llego = I arrive / I am arriving
• llegó = he/she arrived

So the written accent is important both for pronunciation and for meaning.

Here, temprano is being used as an adverb, meaning early.

Adverbs do not change for gender or number, so it stays temprano no matter who arrived:

• Mi colega llegó temprano.
• Mi amiga llegó temprano.
• Mis colegas llegaron temprano.

Compare that with adjective use:

• una hora temprana = an early hour

There, temprana is an adjective describing a feminine noun (hora). But in your sentence, it describes how/when the person arrived, so it functions as an adverb.

In Spanish, adverbs like temprano, tarde, bien, and mal often come after the verb.

So:

• llegó temprano = arrived early

This is the most natural word order here.

You may sometimes see adverbs moved for emphasis, but Mi colega llegó temprano is the normal, neutral structure.

Yes, that is possible, but it sounds more marked or literary, or it gives special emphasis to temprano.

Compare:

• Mi colega llegó temprano. = neutral, everyday order
• Temprano llegó mi colega. = more emphasis on early

For a learner, the first version is the best standard pattern to use.

In most of Spain today, ll is pronounced the same as y. So llegó sounds roughly like ye-GO.

A few notes:

• ll in most modern Spanish varieties = a y sound
• g before o is a hard g sound, like in go
• the stress is on the last syllable because of the accent: lle-GÓ

So a simple learner-friendly approximation is:

• ye-GO

Depending on the region, the exact sound may vary a bit.

Yes, but they are used differently.

Before a noun, you use the short possessive:

• mi colega
• mi casa

When the possessive stands on its own, you use the long form:

• Es mío = It is mine
• La casa es mía = The house is mine

So in this sentence, mi is correct because it comes directly before the noun colega.

Yes, but it is not exactly the same in every context.

• colega can mean colleague, peer, or even mate/friend in Spain
• compañero often means companion, classmate, coworker, or teammate

Both can sometimes work as colleague, but they are not always interchangeable. Colega is very common and natural in Spain, especially in casual speech.

In Spain, you would often use the present perfect:

• Mi colega ha llegado temprano.

This is especially common in Peninsular Spanish when the past action is connected to the present time frame.

Very roughly:

• llegó = arrived
• ha llegado = has arrived

In many parts of Latin America, the simple past llegó is used more widely even where Spain might prefer ha llegado.